I Gotta Tell You, This Last 4 Years Has Really Changed my View of our Intel Services

[Skraxx]

For my whole life I obviously thought they were way more powerful than they really are and wielded way more influence. The Trump Admin proves otherwise.

[maxsolomon]

1. Yep, essentially toothless or worse, collaborative.

Just like the Constitution. Exposed.

[Turin_C3PO]

12. I don't think most

were collaborating with the Trump admin. My dad has some contacts within a few of those services and they can't stand Trump. But yeah, they're not as powerful as people think.

[maxsolomon]

14. Compliant is probably the better word.

But I haven't forgotten the complicity of the FBI's NY office in the 2016 election, and Comey's acquiescence in announcing the Weiner laptop emails.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. They are protecting us and we don't even know it

Things are way worse than we can imagine we just have to hope for the best.

Most in our Intel services are doing the right thing, at least compared to anything Trump or a Republican would do.

[unblock]

5. I agree.

Someone was recently quoted as having said they've seen the presidential daily briefings and they're boring and useless.

My hunch is that's because the intelligence services are protecting our national secrets from the Russian agents that have occupied the Oval Office for the last 4 years.

[FreepFryer]

6. This. (Nt)

[Skraxx]

7. I Agree, and They Are Doing it Lawfully it Seems

Which unfortunately puts them at a disadvantage. Let's just say, that's a bit surprising to me. I always thought the line was more blurred than it apparently is.

[Sierra89]

8. Agreed.

It is more than likely that certain things are being held back, and I am glad if they are doing so.

Never forget that jared still has access to the PDB, and it is said that he previously gave such info to the Saudi crown prince. If someone will do it once, they will do it again. Who knows how much of this they will get away with. When trump's WH staff came into power they were relieved of having to take the standard ethics courses. Perhaps they were just lazy, or perhaps they will use that as an excuse for their lawlessness. "I didn't know"...if you will.

[link:https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?iso=20210120T12&p0=263&msg=Biden+inauguration&ID=1&font=hand&csz=1|

[unblock]

3. That's because Donnie doesn't care about facts and analysis

The intelligence services gather information and analysis it and present it in ways that can inform policy decisions.

In a functional administration, they can indeed wield considerable influence by what they present and how they present it.

But their influence is only as effective to the extent an administration considers their input.

In short, their lack of influence is indicative of the incompetent, anti-fact attitude of this administration.

[greenjar_01]

4. Agreed...and it's almost impossible to watch films like The Bourne Identity now

It's like, please, these guys couldn't find their asses with two hands.

[doc03]

9. So much for all the CIA killed JFK conspiracies. It appears they were willing to stand by

and let the country become a dictatorship and do nothing. I am thinking that most people in that career would tend to support Trump.

[ElementaryPenguin]

10. Uh, not really. Different era. Different CIA

[Ilsa]

11. Another conspiracy holds that the Fourth Reich

was hoping the USSR and the US would further their cold war to a red hot war to make it easier for the Fourth Reich to install a secret nazi as president.

[doc03]

13. You must have watched that show on the History Channel about the 4th Reich this weekend.

I just caught a few minutes of it looked interesting.

[Ilsa]

16. I caught about the last 20 minutes of it.

I was a little disturbed that they kept saying "nukular" instead of nuclear.

But the idea of manipulating a nation's citizens via assassination and/or propaganda would be a reasonable suspicion, I think.

[tavernier]

15. Yes, and the other protective departments and measures

that we all assumed were in place to keep our country from imploding due to one lousy two bit con man.

That’s why I’m still nervous now. It appears that we may have won this leg, but why didn’t the cavalry ever show up?

[jmowreader]

17. If intel services do their jobs right, you'll never know they're there

The agencies make the news when they fuck up.

And I must say, if I was an NSA desk chief the day Trump was elected, I would have gathered the crew and given them a very stern briefing: "We know he's a security risk. He's up to his eyeshadow in debt to Russia, and guys like that just can't be trusted. If President Trump gets hold of our product and sells it to the enemy, it could cost this agency decades of work and billions of dollars, and eliminate our ability to produce intelligence for years to come. So...everyone here needs to read two newspapers a day. I don't care which two, just subscribe to two papers and read them before you come to work every day. Don't tell President Trump anything that isn't in a newspaper. If our president wants to leak information to the Russians, let him leak information you can buy on any street corner for a dollar in quarters."