Trump Is Said to Set Aside Career Intelligence Briefer to Hear From Advisers Instead

[Nevilledog]

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Julian E. Barnes
@julianbarnes
Trump’s new primary intelligence briefer? John Ratcliffe.
John Ratcliffe had relatively little intelligence experience when he assumed the post of director of national intelligence in May.
Trump Is Said to Set Aside Career Intelligence Briefer to Hear From Advisers Instead
For weeks, the director of national intelligence has taken over a job usually done by an intelligence officer.
nytimes.com
2:25 PM · Oct 30, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/us/politics/trump-intelligence-briefings.html

WASHINGTON — President Trump has dispensed with intelligence briefings from a career analyst in favor of updates from political appointees including John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and a longtime partisan defender of his, in the closing weeks of an election targeted by intensifying foreign interference, according to interviews.

While the president has long distrusted the intelligence community and displayed frustration with head of the C.I.A. and antipathy toward the F.B.I. director, Mr. Ratcliffe has served as a more supportive figure. He secured influence in part by delivering on the president’s political agenda, chiefly by declassifying documents related to the Russia investigation, moves said to please Mr. Trump.

Critics have attacked Mr. Ratcliffe’s embrace of Mr. Trump, saying Mr. Ratcliffe cannot be trusted to deliver unvarnished facts in this highly polarized election and is focused on politics in what is supposed to be an apolitical role. Mr. Ratcliffe, who took the job in May, has shown little interest in the work force or making sure the intelligence community’s budget is being properly allocated, former officials said.

Cliff Sims, a senior adviser to Mr. Ratcliffe, said the director had “kept his commitment to keep politics out of intelligence.” Administration officials said there was no evidence that Mr. Ratcliffe was slanting intelligence or withholding information from the president.

Mr. Trump has not had a briefing led by his designated briefer, the veteran intelligence officer Beth Sanner, in more than a month, people familiar with the matter said. The last formal intelligence briefing led by Ms. Sanner was scheduled for Oct. 2, though administration officials said it was canceled.

Instead, Mr. Trump has relied on Mr. Ratcliffe to brief him two or three times a week, including one delivered Thursday, the people said. He supplements those meetings with informal briefings from Robert C. O’Brien, the national security adviser; Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; and others.

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[soothsayer]

1. Help me, lord

[Newest Reality]

2. Anybody,

Anybody who is good at drawing stick figures with crayons is probably good for the job.