Trumps Intelligence War Is Also an Election Story – The Atlantic

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In steps Grenell, who has no intelligence background but has made it clear he will aggressively push Trumps line. The Wall Street Journal called him Trumps favorite ambassador, reporting that the president is impressed with his combative tone on TV and social media and has called Grenell someone who gets it. To be fair, its still unclear what kind of DNI Grenell will be or even how long his tenure will last. Under federal guidelines, Grenell can stay in his post only until mid-March, unless Trump nominates a permanent director by then. This would allow his tenure to continue for months as the confirmation process plays out, and as Wired noted, if a nomination fails or other nominations come and go, Grenell could stay on indefinitely. Grenell has a history of hawkish views on Russia, though in a 2016 opinion piece for Fox News he minimized Russias interference efforts, writing that it has been employing such tactics for decades. One of his first moves as acting DNI was to install Kash Patel, a partisan warrior who played an important role in Republican efforts to push back against the FBIs Russia probe, as a senior adviser. Patel reportedly has a mandate to clean house.

Robert Litt, who served as general counsel to the DNI during the Obama administration, told me that if Trump does find a willing partisan for the directors jobin Grenell or another candidatehe or she would hold the power to interfere with the intelligence communitys work to combat and monitor Russias meddling efforts. The DNI is responsible for setting priorities for intelligence collection. And if youre not looking for something, youre not going to find it, said Litt, now a lawyer with the firm Morrison and Foerster. The DNI could deprioritize looking for information and direct intelligence assets away from that.

Even without such a clear-cut move, he noted, collection and analysis could see a chilling effect. If people think their careers are going to be at stake if they talk about these things, theres going to be a natural inclination to shade your findings, he said. Hypothetically, for instance, you might say the Russians are looking to interfere in the elections, and you might omit that theyre trying to help the president, even though the evidence says they are.

The DNI also influences what information reaches Congress and the public. The 2017 report, for example, established a frame of reference on Russias 2016 efforts. Intelligence officials testimony at hearings, Litt said, shapes congressional and public understanding of these important issues. He added: If nobodys saying those things, then its hard for the narrative to take hold.

A pliant DNI could also go beyond withholding information to skewing the story, Douglas London, a professor at Georgetown who recently retired from a 34-year career in the CIA, told me. This could be picking facts, suppressing what he doesnt like and emphasizing what he does likeand in the process building a narrative that supports the presidents preferences.

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Trumps Intelligence War Is Also an Election Story - The Atlantic