Washington Post: Trump seems powerless to stop leaks
A few weeks after Inauguration Day, White House policy adviser Stephen Miller declared on national television that “the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”
Three months later, it is increasingly clear that the powers of the president to stop leaks are rather unsubstantial and will be questioned almost daily.
The Washington Post reported Friday — based on information from U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports — that President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, discussed setting up a secret communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin using Russian facilities in Washington when he met in December with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Stopping leaks is not going to be as hard as most people like to believe it is .... it is the consequences of what is needed to stop these leaks .... and we are talking mass firings and dismissals .... where the damage to America's intelligence community and national security is going to be felt. In the case of President Trump .... these leaks started during the campaign, and it became a torrent between his election victory and his inauguration. Who were these leakers .... considering the sensitivity and importance of some of the leaks .... it does not take a rocket scientist to know that it had to come from senior officials. What also did not help the situation at the time was the perception that FBI Director Comey was not concerned about investigating these leaks .... to the point that I do not even know right now if there is even an investigation. But because of this lack of concern from the FBI Director (and talk about giving a green light) .... these leaks have exploded exponentially after the inauguration to the point where U.S. intelligence officials are now disclosing the most sensitive of all secrets. Case in point .... in yesterday's Washington Post a story ran where anonymous sources disclosed that the Russian Ambassador's secured communications were compromised .... and these intel officials did this just to push a leak that Jared Kushner wanted a back-channel to Russia. I do not know if this story true .... the Washington Post has written a lot of stuff since the election that ended up going nowhere .... but if it is true .... the repercussions of this leak are disturbing. And then there are the other leaks .... like details on the Manchester bomber being posted in the New York Times while the investigation was ongoing .... or even the leaks from the White House itself.
Bottom line .... something has to be done .... because the situation has now gone out of control and it is endangering U.S. national security interests and how the U.S. President conducts business. What are the options .... in a normal situation an administration comes in .... puts its people in place (which always takes a long time) .... and those who are replaced move on. In this case .... when one looks at all the leaks that have been consistently pouring out since the campaign .... one can only assume that the intel community has become politicised .... and because some of them disagree with an elected President and his policies .... they feel entitled that they have the right to stop him. The fact that the main stream media and the opponents of President Trump have jumped onto this bandwagon .... makes the situation even worse ... and yes .... more politicised.
My prediction .... President Trump is going to first fire/replace/re-assign key White House officials .... and if in the coming weeks/months the replacements act the same way .... remove them also. Is this going to be messy .... yes. But that is always the problem when an outsider wins the reigns of power .... the political establishment has a different agenda and they are always reluctant to change. The intelligence community is another story. But in this case President Trump can take President Obama's handbook on how to solve the problem. When President Obama assumed the office the first thing that he did was to make a vow that he was going to close Guantanamo, and to make sure that those who pushed and favoured renditions/torture/etc. would be held accountable. WNU at the time posted numerous stories from intel officials saying that President Obama was destroying the morale within the US. intel community .... and in the words of many of the leakers at the time ..... crippling the war against terror. President Obama's response .... firings/dismissals/and replacing those who were from the Bush era with his own people. He also tracked down and prosecuted leakers ..... even obtaining the phone records of the AP to accomplish these goals. Was President Obama successful .... the way I see it .... when he opened his back-channel with Iran to do his nuclear deal .... the public did not learn the details until long after the deal was made.
President Trump is now back in the U.S. .... and I expect him to look very hard at what needs to be done. He has caused a lot of this flak .... but a lot of this is also a deliberate and targeted campaign to destroy his Presidency As I explained above .... there is a precedent that he can follow. Firings and dismissals .... coupled with tracking down and prosecuting the leakers. Will he do it .... President Obama had the will to do it .... now is the time to see if President Trump does also.
Update: I should also add that President Trump must clean up his own communications .... message discipline and clarity is a must at this level. And while I have learned to understand when Trump is Trump .... and as a consumer of news to appreciate his tweets .... I also know that many do not, and that is when the message gets lost.
26 comments:
I'll bet that Trump is more than willing to conduct a massive purge of the entire US Intel apparatus. Gut it all. Shut it down and ride the Obama quislings down the proverbial river. Start fresh
But he has legions of spineless Republicans who would thwart that endeavor from the get go. Not to mention the Dem/MSM 24/7 freakout machine.
Its a true statement that Gov't doesn't budge until something bad happens.
LMFAO
"But I have a simpler way of gauging this. When the Allies cracked the Nazi’s ENIGMA encryption during World War Two they allowed people to march into certain death rather than risk revealing that they could read the Germans’ internal communications. But the fact that we intercepted the Russian ambassador’s communications with the Kremlin was just presented as the evidence for Jared Kushner wanting to set up a private network with Moscow. That should be the most closely guarded secret we have, or close to it. So, to just go ahead and risk losing that capability is an indication of how serious of a risk they think Trump represents.
They would never reveal that information unless they thought removing Trump from power was a higher priority and that this information could lead to that outcome."
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2017/5/27/10331/3082
http://yastreblyansky.blogspot.ca/2017/05/it-rhymes.html?m=1
Trump was quietly warned, over and over again,during the Campaign, the Transition, and the first few months of his term, that he was letting the Russian's in.
He didn't care.
Jay.
Just a gut feeling.
I think there is more at play here than just the Russians.
What we have been seeing is all inside stuff .... and big money at play.
The cancellation of TTP alone took multi-billions away from some very rich individuals and powerful business organisations. You can see that they are pissed .... doubly so since many of them have to grovel to Trump on this or that deal. (Boeing on Iran and Air Force One. Lockheed Martin on F-35 costs. Applied materials and their billions in China. etc,). And now trade tariffs, NAFTA rewrite, and deregulation that will only benefit those who compete against the big and powerful).
And what's Russia when compared to that .... in terms of money .... really nothing. But as a battering ram when it comes to politics .... beyond priceless.
But like I said .... just a gut feeling.
Perhaps he understood the need to negotiate an end to Cold War 2. As such, a "private channel" or "back channel" as some might call it with the Russians would've been most helpful. Unfortunately due to what appears to be strictly partisain political activity months if not years of careful diplomacy has been shot to h!ll.
I disagree B. Poster. As I had mentioned in an earlier post .... Russian and U.S. forces are cooperating in Syria .... that could have only been accomplished through a back-door channel. So that tells me that a back-door channel has been put in place.
Editor,
I think your "gut" is spot on. As to what is Russian money and influence in all of this, a bit like a child's water gun against an M-16 or an AK-47.
When things don't go the way the powers that be want, creating a "foregin devil" is nothing new. In such cases, generally the "foreign devil" is someone who while influential cannot actually destroy those who created them. Unfortunately many in America have chosen to make Russia and Vladimr Putin as their "foreign devil." Forbes has this pegged properly. Vladimir Putin is the most powerful person on earth. Furthermore Rusdia posses conventional military capabilities and a nuclear arsenal that are second to none. Choosing them as one's "foreign devil" is beyond unwise.
Negotiated peace needs to happen. As such, all efforts to do this should be encouraged. There are many sound reasons why Russian leadership doesn't trust Americans or their leaders. People they are inclined to trust are indeed "priceless" and should be treated by Americans as national treasures. Such people can help us and should be encourqged.
LMAO,
You've seen Trump's Cabinet and Trump's backers.
Just as the leaks are coming from inside the White House, the "money's" inside the White House, just look at Trump's proposed budget, $800 billion taken from the Deplorables and Gillibillies, and nicely wrapped and given to the Billionaires.
There won't be a 300 ship Navy to MAGA, the money isn't there because the Plutocrats won't pay taxes.
Trump's proposed Energy Plan and Infrastructure plan is going to make the looting of Soviet assets after 1991 look like an amateur's job.
Editor,
Thank you for the reply to my first post. If Mr. Kushner helped establish this "back channel", all Americans should be very grateful to him as I can only imagine what would've happened if the Russians started shooting down US planes.
Furthermore I recall when US cruise missles took out much of the Syrian airforce after the chemical weapons attack. Russian S-300 defense systems could've very easily taken US cruise missles out. For some reason the Russians "stood down."
Back channels would seem to be good. If I were POTUS or POTUS elect, the first thing I'd try to do is establish fruitful "back door" communications with the Russians. Having such relations would be good for America. They might even help us negotiate an end to Cold War 2, a war we can't afford, lack the resources to prosecute effectively, and even if we had all of this we don't need it!!
"What we have been seeing is all inside stuff .... and big money at play.
The cancellation of TTP alone took multi-billions away from some very rich individuals and powerful business organisations. You can see that they are pissed .... doubly so since many of them have to grovel to Trump on this or that deal. (Boeing on Iran and Air Force One. Lockheed Martin on F-35 costs. Applied materials and their billions in China. etc,). And now trade tariffs, NAFTA rewrite, and deregulation that will only benefit those who compete against the big and powerful).
And what's Russia when compared to that .... in terms of money .... really nothing. But as a battering ram when it comes to politics .... beyond priceless."
Hanging the rest of the people out to dry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkSTXaU7eSw
Jay. I have definitely seen and read all that I could on Trump's cabinet and backers. And it is easy ... they are in the news all the time. But I have also taken the time on seeing who is on the other side. The execs and money behind Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon are beyond behemoths when compared to Trump's cabinet and friends .... and these people are not shy at all on how they use their money in politics and to voice their opposition to Trump. And then there are the others who are in the news (Soros) and the ones who we never see on the news who are not happy with Trump and who see him as a direct threat to their money and influence .... they are not small fry either.
LMFAO,
Here I am posting hour after hour,
Not one Soro's cheque,
LMFAO
Made way more money selling Cialis to Trumpista's, Deplorable and Gullibillies,
And my website on how almonds cure HPV is just starting to take off amongst the Briebart crowd.
Jay. You think you have a beef. I still waiting for my check from the Kremlin. :)
Jay,
In my posts here did I say you were paid?
No. Maybe you were projecting.
1) I posted an excerpt of what WU said posted. Call it his "Follow the $$$" statement.
2.) I made one comment about corporate trade interests.
3) I posted a YouTube link to the Red Guards. Many of them did their book burning, robbery, vandalism, assaults, and public sloganeering and denunciations (modern day - think Internet) pro bono. Maybe you looked at the YouTube vid. Maybe you feel guilty. Maybe you will have a guilty/nervous laugh like "LMAO".
I see two issues:
1. there would be no or at least far fewer leaks had those leakers more respect, liking for Trump.
2. gutting intel is not going to help at this point since a heck of a lot of positions in all govt agencies remain unfilled. The administration seems unwilling or unable to fill necessary positions at present.
The FBI with a bus of polygraph examiners need to show up at the White House and Executive Office Building and copy the contents of every computer and every cell, personal and official. Then poly every single person. The answer is there and there isn't a lot of Forth Amendment protections for individuals with clearances that high. It's a question of desire.
And Hair Twitler has his phone back,
http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2017/05/hes-baaaaack.html?m=1
"The administration seems unwilling or unable to fill necessary positions at present. "
Blah, blah ... blah, blah blah.
It was inly this week that the ambassador to China was confirmed by the Senate.
What was the 1st excuse by the yelping curs?
Oh right, that the nominee came form a small backwater state and what would he know of trade with China.
When the brown-nosers did not get there way with that campaign , they did what they did for the past 4 months or more. They stalled.
Look at it this way Fred. With all that H2S, you do not need to buy drugs on the street.
455 empty key posts, (80%) with nobody nominated for the position by Hair Furour's minions,
15 nominee's awaiting hearings by the Republican House and Senate, 12 of whom, after 2 months, still have not filled out their HR-38, and so, the House cannot perform the needed background checks.
At the current pace, the Hair Furour's Administration will have filled all key Administration positions by July 7th, 2020.
LMFAO,
Their key posts because you say they are key?
I have seen companies switch the deck chairs, grow, & shrink 3 times in a year. Didn't really affect sales.
But we'll dig onto those posts over the next year, because Jabber and like minded fools will insist. Kind of like how self appointed Leftist canon lawyers will bring up things like Mathew 7:1 in the culture wars. So we go there. Eventually they get their ass beat and they move on.
correction: They're not their
LMFAO,
FBI Director,
US Secretary of Labour,
US Representative For Trade,
Secretary of Commerce,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-administration-appointee-tracker/database/
The position's are called "key", because they are the #1-#4 Management positions in the Departments. They are the "guys" who turn a President's platform into policy.
WhiteHouse.Gov has set up a website where you can apply if you want.
In addition, there's over 2,000 other vacancies ranging from Ambassadors to Judges.
Canada and Mexico have assembled full teams for the upcoming NAFTA negotiations that start in August, Canada's team has over 470 years combined experience in Trade Law, NAFTA, International Trade Agreements.
Trump doesn't even have a Trade Representative, a Commerce Secretary or even a "team of juniors" assembled. So far they've asked a porta pottie Salesman from South Dakota to lead on NAFTA, he hasn't replied yet.
Hair Furour's triggered a countdown clock that impacts roughly 80% of the US Economy, with out even having a team in place.
As May admitted on her Saudi Trip, post Brexit the earliest that the UK can possibly have a trade/labour deal in place with the EU, is 2 years after Brexit, and that Goldstone was right, it could be 2-10 years before there is a deal.
The Corporate MP window is 5-15 years, ( buildings, plants, investments), the EMP window is 2-5 years,( models, lines, projects), the MPS window is 1 year.
In the absence of certainty, Corporations make their own plans.
As the realities of Brexit strike home, UK Corporations are making their own plans, based on the known knowns, and the unknown.
Some are freezing, ( putting long term plans on hold), some are already leaving, and it's at least 2 more years before the immediate Post Brexit trade/labour rules are known, and 4-10 years before there's an EU/UK ( if there's a UK) trade deal.
Like I said the Democrats slowed and obstructed the whole process like confirming Terry Branstad as ambassador to China.
Really?
He was governor for 22 years. He is a well known quantity and the DemoKKKrats can't touch him.
Yet those mother fuckers delayed and obstructed his hearing and all hearings.
LMFAO,
Merick Garland Who?
There's no longer a fillibister, no longer a blue card,
There's a Republican Majorityin the House and Senate,
All AdolphTwiter's nominee's have been fast tracked by the Republicans and blank chequed,
The problem is, he has no nominee's.
Even BushII had all his 2,879 nominee's in place, security checks done, 254 confirmed, and hearings scheduled for the remainder, by his first 100 days,
BushII "Heck of a Job, Brownie!" Bush II.
LMFAO
Republican senators and reps have been scarred by 45 straight years of DemoKKKrat rule and more than that of Dhimmicrat media domination.
LMFAO,
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/05/29/as-memorial-day-2017-comes-to-an-end/
LMFAO,
When Bush II took power,
-the US was the sole Superpower
-NATO had done a all hands in in alliance with the US in Kosovo,
-the US was the World Largest Economy,
- al Quida and it's franchises were a couple hundred guys in 3 global shitholes,
-Median US health, wealth, education and mortality was in the top 5 across the board.
At the end of Bush II's second term,
- the US was 1:3 Superpowers,
- the Bush Alliance had dwindled to Britain,Australia, a couple of Islands in the Pacific, and NATO had deployed under UN Mandates,
- China was the worlds largest economy,
- al Quida was fielding full Divisions with tanks, apc's, artillary in 17 countries, controlling millions of square miles of Caliphinates, all they lacked was an AirForce,
-median US health, wealth, education at mortality didn't even crack the top 20 and some Republican States, had worse statistics than African shitholes like the Ivory Coast and Liberia.
LMFAO,
I don't think the US is going to survive Trump as a Nation.
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