OPINION — President Trump, this past week, has shown that he is just as serious today about undercutting the intelligence community’s January 6, 2017, conclusion that Vladimir Putin’s directed activities which helped him win the White House in 2016, as he was back then.
Trump’s continuing sensitivity was reflected in his hasty decision to fire acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire on February 14, after berating him for allowing DNI’s top election threats executive, Shelby Pierson, to brief members of the House Intelligence Committee one day earlier on Russia’s current activities in the U.S., that leaked out to the press.
Pierson had made clear to the House members present that the Russians were continuing their covert operations to influence the upcoming election, as FBI Director Christopher Wray had done before the House Judiciary Committee a week earlier. Under questioning, some Democrats interpreted Pierson’s statements as meaning the Russians were aiding Trump’s re-election, while others thought she only indicated Moscow preferred him winning.
Pierson also apparently told the House members that the Russians were also using covert social media efforts to promote the presidential primary campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), something Sanders said he had earlier been told by U.S. intelligence officials.
Trump’s public anger though, at the House committee briefing, seemed more about its potential political use against him, than that it contained material he had not been aware of himself. As usual, he called the whole story about Russian interference in the 2020 election “a hoax,” and tweeted the allegation that the material had been leaked by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who he said should be investigated.
Schiff denied any leaking but tweeted back to Trump, “You welcomed Russian help in 2016, tried to coerce Ukraine’s help in 2019, and won’t protect our elections in 2020. Now you fired your intel chief for briefing Congress about it. You’ve betrayed America. Again.”
Several things about Trump’s seemingly abrupt firing of Maguire are worth noting, one of which was historical.
Maguire had been named to replace former-Sen. Dan Coats, whose decision to leave was announced by Trump in a Sunday afternoon tweet on July 28, 2019. At the time, it was believed that Trump had been bothered by several instances where Coats’ public descriptions of intelligence community positions were at odds with those of the President.
It should be noted that just nine days before Coats’ announced departure, on July 19, 2019, Coats had publicly announced that Shelby Pierson would take over the new position he had created as ODNI’s election threats executive. At the time, Coats said, “Election security is an enduring challenge and a top priority.” However, within the intelligence community there was growing concern about foreign threats to the 2020 election and doubts about how engaged the Trump White House was about the issue.
Also worth noting, there was no need to fire Maguire on February 14, since by law, he was in a six-month, acting DNI position, and his term was scheduled to end on March 12.
On February 19, Trump named Richard Grenell, then U.S. Ambassador to Germany, as Maguire’s replacement as acting DNI. The next day, Maguire formally resigned from government service and the ODNI Principal Deputy, Andrew Hallman, also stepped down from his role.
Grenell, 53, has spent most of his working life as a public relations man. He’s been press secretary for Republican congressmen and worked in the 2000 presidential campaign of John McCain. From 2001-to-2008, he was spokesman at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and in 2009 established his own strategic communications firm, Capitol Media Partners. During the Obama years, he also became a regular on Fox News.
In September 2017, Trump nominated him to be ambassador to Germany. His nomination was controversial and it took seven months before the Senate approved him by a 56-to-42 vote on April 26, 2018. During his time in Germany, Grenell has been an outspoken Trump supporter.
Both the White House and Grenell himself, have made clear he is to be acting DNI for only a short period, until a nominee for the permanent position is named.
By law, “Any individual nominated for appointment as DNI shall have extensive national security expertise,” which would be a major issue should Grenell ever become the official DNI nominee. Three of the first five DNIs, had a long record of military service. The first DNI, Ambassador John Negroponte, was a distinguished career diplomat with multiple National Security Council assignments. Sen. Dan Coats, also was an ambassador and during his Senate career served on both the Armed Services and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Trump’s initial choice to replace Coats as DNI, Rep. John Ratcliff (R-Texas), a two-term congressman, withdrew his nomination five days after being named after press reports showed he exaggerated his alleged credentials. Trump has said four or five names are under consideration, although Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga,), mentioned by the president as a candidate, said he was not interested in the job.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, Trump must nominate a new DNI by mid-March. That will start the six-month clock for any acting-DNI so to limit the authority of a non-Senate-confirmed appointee. But if that nomination fails or others are made, it is possible Grenell could continue on in the role.
Therefore, members of the intelligence community are wondering how long Grenell will be around and are watching his actions, as well as those of his newly-hired deputy, Kashyap Patel, a Trump National Security Council staffer and former investigator for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif), now ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, but its former chairman.
There is concern that Trump’s post-impeachment plan to rid his administration of “disloyal” employees within the bureaucracy will be carried out within the CIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies within the intelligence community. CBS News’ Catherine Herridge has reported that Patel’s job will be to “clean house.”
At CIA, they recall back in the fall of 2004 when Porter Goss, the former House Intelligence Committee chairman became the agency’s director and brought with him ex-committee staffers who had served at the agency. A series of pressured resignations took place including those of Stephen Kappes, who had just become deputy director for operations and his deputy, Michael Sulick, the associate deputy director of operations.
Another concern is related to the public relations approach of Grenell and the Trump administration itself.
Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien appeared Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation and ABC’s This Week and told both he had not seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected.
He told ABC, “I think the Russians have gotten a great return on investment for a very small amount of, of election interference,” but he quickly made clear he wasn’t talking about Moscow giving support to Trump. “I mean, they helped [former British intelligence officer Christopher] Steele. They helped with the dossier,” that Democrats had financed to attack Trump.
But O’Brien did tell Face the Nation, “What I've heard is that Russia would like Bernie Sanders to— to win the Democrat nomination. They'd probably like him to be President, understandably, because he wants to— to spend money on social programs and probably would have to take it out of the military, so that would make sense.” So O’Brien is saying he had heard the Sanders part of what Pierson briefed House members, but never the Trump part.
What acting-DNI Grenell says when he first speaks out in public will not only be reported by the media, but also thoroughly analyzed by the intelligence community.
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