Washington understandably is exercised over the controversy between the Trump transition team and the Intelligence Community (IC) concerning the apparent Russian government hacking of websites related to the Presidential election. This controversy obviously has immediate implications for the Trump Administration’s relations with Moscow, and longer term ones for the climate between the Trump White House and the IC, especially its flagship institution, the CIA. This is even more concerning given somewhat similar accusations made towards another key security institution, the FBI, during the campaign. In the end, the state of that climate between the President and the IC is critical for our country’s defense.
Americans, however, usually see the effective functioning of intelligence within the Executive Branch primarily in security/military terms, such as preventing another terrorist attack or targeting an opponent’s weapons of mass destruction. But proper functioning of the IC-White House relationship is just as vital to America’s diplomatic relations, which in many ways is our first line of defense, and our most important “force multiplier” for international engagement.
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