Nothing demonstrates the failure of U.S. national security policymaking in the Trump era more than the president’s decision to downgrade the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense less than two years ago. Trump and National Security adviser John Bolton had a conception of “national security” that downplayed the well-known...
Category: Articles
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Trump’s Intelligence Purge Rattles National Security Establishment
Former CIA director John Brennan calls it a “full blown national security crisis.” Soon to be ex-acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire says Congress that Russia is seeking to influence in the 2020 presidential election on behalf of President Trump. Trump is replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, a former spokesman for U.S. Ambassador...
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Gitmo Testimony Sheds Light on $81 Million CIA Contract for Waterboarding Duo
The continuing testimony of James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, architects of the CIA’s torture program, at a military tribunal in Guantanamo sheds new light on the business side of “enhanced interrogation.” The duo make an appearance in their private jet in The Report, the movie sabout the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation of the CIA torture...
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The Weakest Link: Impeachment and National Security
In the summer of 2016 President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump didn’t agree about much, except for one obscure issue of U.S. foreign policy: lethal military aid to Ukraine. As commander in chief, Obama objected to such assistance, even in the face of a Russian proxy war. So did candidate Trump. On...
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The ‘Deep State’ Isn’t a Conspiracy. It’s a Political Faction
[This story was first published in The New Republic as “‘The Deep State’ Is a Political Party,” November 8, 2019)] It was, in the eyes of Trump World, the very clubhouse of the Deep State: the plush, blue-carpeted, wood-paneled 13th floor auditorium of the National Press Club, located in the heart of the Washington swamp,...