OPINION — As we digest the Trump administration’s unorthodox style of governing in the foreign affairs arena, it is worth focusing on a key aspect of our bilateral relationships that does not get much press, the effect of President Trump on our foreign intelligence service liaison partners. How they approach the Trump dynamic is quite remarkable and may be somewhat surprising to the American people.
Our liaison partners are challenged daily by the president’s tweets, via personal insults aimed at world leaders or by the overturning of the fundamental world order, reflecting what many see as a zero sum and often disjointed approach to foreign policy. As such, I liken our liaison partners’ reaction to Trump - both forced and reactive - to dancing through the raindrops.
Our foreign intelligence partnerships remain a cornerstone of intelligence collection for the U.S. From our Five Eyes alliance (the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), to junior intelligence services in the Balkans and the middle east, we have built a world wide web of allies that cooperate with the CIA on the hardest of targets. Failing to nurture these relationships would be catastrophic to our national security, and specifically at CIA, to the role of station management or a geographic area mission center. The Agency spends a great deal of time, effort, and money on working with liaison partners. Friendly services have taken down terrorist plots, interdicted nuclear material, helped us catch spies in our midst, and provided us critical foreign intelligence on Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China. They are indeed indispensable.
The recent events in which President Trump finds himself being investigated on allegations of pressuring foreign leaders, including several of our intelligence partners, to dig up political dirt about events that occurred over three years ago could, on the surface, do grave harm to these intelligence relationships.
If the allegations are proven true, then the administration will have put our partners in a terrible position by asking them to carry out unusual or perhaps even in the U.S. context - illegal activities - thereby putting at risk the foundations of the intelligence relationships that have been built over decades. While these alleged activities are highly-alarming on the surface, my experience at CIA that included 26 years of working with multiple liaison partners, suggests that our allies are too smart to get sucked deeply into this morass. In fact, our foreign partners have a superb understanding of the American political system. They likely will dance through the raindrops to appease Trump, but in a manner that remains consistent with their national interest and international norms.
They may pay lip service to odd or even quasi-legal requests, allegedly carried out at times by non-intelligence professionals outside of proper channels but still reporting to the White House. However, they have studied Trump and his personality to the core, and thus are well equipped to deal with such requests with a nod, wink, and then go through the motions and appear to comply, but likely not ever really do so or doing the absolute minimum. The oft-used phrased in the Arab world “enshallah” or “god willing,” is a perfect example of what is a polite “no,” but without every really saying it outright. While these requests would be embarrassing and frankly seen as beneath the dignity of the U.S., our liaison partners are sophisticated enough to understand that such highly unusual requests would not be a reflection of the historic intelligence relationship with CIA.
In several senior assignments since the 2016 elections until my retirement this past summer, I was obliged to spend time with senior foreign intelligence service officials who were curiously assessing the new president and adapting to his style. They were subject to pressure from their political masters, who in the overt diplomatic arena would become agitated with an offensive or plainly odd tweet from the White House, and ask their intelligence services to note concern to CIA. What became a regular retort from me and my colleagues, while never directly addressing or challenging such comments from the president as he was our commander in chief, and we adhered strictly to the chain of command out of respect for the office, was simply to note that it was best to ignore the politics and the tweets and focus on the intelligence arena, building and even strengthening the bilateral relationships between the U.S. and their respective services. On numerous occasions I would trot out this same line, which I both firmly believed to be within the bounds of my professional non-partisan duties and would resonate with a fellow intelligence professional.
In the end, our foreign partners believe so deeply in their ties to CIA that they will not allow any rogue political machinations to upset the carefully nurtured bilateral intelligence relationship, as embarrassing as the machinations may be. This should give significant comfort to the American people, as they sleep soundly at night with the U.S. intelligence community, aided tremendously by our foreign liaison partners, on point.
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