OUT OF CHARACTER: The subject of character is a big issue this week (and most weeks) in Washington. Not only did Cipher Brief expert, Admiral James Stavridis, (Ret.) talk about it in his newly-released book Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, but Admiral Bill McRaven, (Ret.) took a direct shot at the White House in an Opinion piece published in The New York Times titled ‘Our Republic is Under Attack From the President’. The decision by the President to make it easier for Turkish troops to launch a military mission targeting U.S. allies in the region has most Republicans and Democrats scratching their heads, and asking WTF that character in the White House was thinking.
POLL DANCE: There is a new Fox News Poll out measuring public confidence in the FBI, CIA, and Supreme Court. According to the poll, confidence in the FBI is now at 69% (down from 80% two years ago), the CIA is at 66% down from 73% in 2017, while the Supreme Court is at 68% having dropped 15% in the past two years. While confidence ratings in the mid-60’s is not brilliant – it beats the ratings for some other institutions and individuals looked at in the same poll. Congress is at 45%, the news media at 47%, and President Trump at 43%.
“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62
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