Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Has There Been Inteligence Sharing Consequences Because Of Reports That President Trump Gave Russia Some Intel Secrets?


DW: Putin offers 'proof' that Trump didn't share sensitive information

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to provide "proof" that Donald Trump did not share intelligence with Russian officials. Key US allies have said they will continue exchanging intelligence with Washington.

Putin on Wednesday told journalists he did not think Trump was being allowed to work properly and did not divulge secret information to Russian officials. He also cheekily added that he would provide "proof" of the latter statement - but only with the White House's approval.

The Russian president's comments came the same day officials in Jerusalem confirmed that Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a timely phone conversation that was apparently unrelated to recent reports that the US president had shared Israeli intelligence with Russian officials at the White House on May 10. Trump is headed to the Middle East next week and plans to visit Israel.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: DW is saying that there has been no consequences in sharing intelligence information .... and they quote in the above report Israeli and British officials. But I have a different point of view .... I believe there will be consequences (if not already). In President Obama's second term .... and now the beginning of the Trump Presidency .... there has been an avalanche of leaks .... NSA leaker Edward Snowden, the release of the CIA's toolkit on what the CIA is capable of doing on computer and communication networks, and now President Trump (leaks by him and those who are leaking about him). There are no secrets .... and in the case of the U.S. .... secrets that clearly have a very short life. As a blogger who is an information junkie and who aggregates the news .... I enjoy this. But I also know that there will be national security ramifications in the future .... and our enemies will exploit it. As to what will be exactly those national security ramifications .... only time will tell.

1 comment:

B.Poster said...

Is anyone going to pay attention to Putin's "proof?" At least few if any in the US media are likely to pay attention.

It appears to me certain people need a "foregin devil." They've decided to make Russia the "foreign devil." While many countries on earth would gladly destroy America if they could, Russia with thousands of nuclear weapons and one of the world's top militaries and intelligence services is the only country who definitely actually could today.

We are going to need solid working relations with them. IF the US had intelligence on ISIS, given the threat posed by ISIS, Al Qaeda, and others of the same ideolgical persuasion, combined with Russia's large and restive Islamic population, the US leadership may have been under an ethical obligation to release this information to Russia including the sources and methods. IF one had such information and didn't release it and Russians endured mass casualties as the result of an Islamic terrorist attack that could have been prevented had the Russians had this Intelligence, this could be a huge problem especially if the Russians were to later learn this information was withheld from them becsuse it was "classified."

While there may well be a risk of such information falling into the hands of adversaries such as Iran as the result of the leak, the risk of a mass attack against Russia and Russians may be much greater. Denying Russia such information that could prevent mass casualties may not only be unethical but unwise especially in light of our need to end Cold War 2.

Extreme care will need to be undertaken to ensure Trump officals and POTUS himself get a fair trial. Right now, at least in the government and the media, this seems problematic at best. While subterfuge is certainly possible, we are already the laughingstock of the world. Failure to do this properly will only make things worse.