The Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Is Forcing the U.S. Intelligence Community To Change How It Works

Charles Clancy, The Hill: COVID-19 is forcing the intelligence community to think outside the SCIF

The COVID-19 outbreak is forcing all federal agencies to contemplate teleworking at scale. This creates unique challenges for the secretive intelligence community (IC), whose culture is anchored in security clearances, windowless buildings, classified computer networks, and in-person meetings with trusted colleagues. This cultural identity is not conducive to accomplishing missions during a prolonged pandemic, and its workforce must be effective outside Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs).

This comes while intelligence tradecraft is radically shifting. New technology is altering notions of connectivity and privacy. Open-source data is king. Commercial intelligence companies are blossoming. From satellite imagery to cell phone tracking data, intelligence is mainstream and being monetized by everyone from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

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WNU Editor: The intelligence community and its workforce cannot operate from home with current existing technologies. The above analysis is correct that how federal agencies operated in the past is not feasible in the current environment.

Is The U.S. Intelligence Community Intimidated By President Trump?

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a visit to the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va., on Saturday. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Paul R. Pillar, Business Insider/Responsible Statecraft: The intelligence community is intimidated by Trump

* The relationship between President Donald Trump and the officials leading US intelligence agencies has grown increasingly strained during Trump's time in office.

* Trump has pressured the agencies to describe events in a way that fits his worldview, and agency officials have gone along or ceded their role altogether, writes former intelligence analyst and security expert Paul R. Pillar.

The relationship between US intelligence agencies and policymakers has long had built-in tension. The agencies' very reason for existence entails a commitment to objectivity and to describing reality accurately whether or not that description suits the wishes of whoever is making policy at the moment.

But the agencies are part of the executive branch, headed by the president. When the agencies' output clashes with whatever message a president may be pushing publicly in support of his policies, it can be a bad day at the office for intelligence officers.

Bad days at the office come with the territory for intelligence officers, but what is bad for the country is when intelligence agencies start succumbing to the pressure from above and no longer speak truth to power, or at least no longer do so clearly, directly, and unhesitatingly.

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WNU Editor: Another post from someone who worked for the intel community for almost 3 decades, and who is unhappy that the power and influence that this community has had on U.S. government policy is now being questioned and (in some cases) ignored.

The U.S. Intelligence Community Never Paid A Serious Price For 9/11

The second tower of the World Trade Center bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane in New York September 11, 2001. REUTERS/Sara K. Schwittek

Brandon J. Weichert, American Greatness: Never Forget How U.S. Intelligence Failed You

Countless Americans’ lives changed forever on 9/11. But the sclerotic administrative state never paid any serious price.

The September 11, 2001 attacks were the result of an unmitigated intelligence failure. No, 9/11 was not an “inside job,” as many conspiracy theorists believe. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network were responsible. But, the 9/11 plot did not happen in a vacuum.

In reality, America’s elephantine national security state had known of bin Laden and his network years before the horrific events of 9/11. Some of the most powerful people in the national security state routinely downplayed and ignored the threat al-Qaeda posed to the United States before 19 hijackers murdered 2,911 people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

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WNU Editor: I always find it amazing on how the Washington establishment protects its own.

Is President Trump Politicizing The U.S. Intelligence Community With His Appointments?

Critics say Republican Representative John Ratcliffe is too inexperienced and too political to become US director of national intelligence (AFP Photo/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS)

Paul Handley, AFP: Trump nominee sparks worries of intelligence politicization

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's choice of a lawmaker with limited experience to oversee the massive US intelligence community has sparked concerns over the possible politicization of crucial national security decisions.

Trump announced the nomination Sunday of Republican Representative John Ratcliffe to replace Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence, the person who coordinates the 17 agencies that make up the US intelligence community.

Coats is leaving after 24 months during which Trump has regularly ignored and undermined his spy chiefs, keeping them in the dark especially on his plans for relations with Russia.

While the departure is not a surprise, the choice of Ratcliffe has sparked worries among lawmakers.

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WNU Editor: I had to laugh when I read this analysis from AFP. The U.S. intelligence community has always been politicized, and Presidents always stack the upper echelons of the community with their loyalists. What has been different in the past two and a half years is that some in the community appear to have made it a mission to target President Trump when he was running to be President, before he took the oath of office, and I would say even when he became President.

Is Now The Time For A Thorough Revamping Of The U.S. Intelligence Community?

Michael Leeden, PJ Media: It's Time for a Thoroughgoing Revamping of the Intelligence Community

Among the urgent tasks we must quickly undertake, few are so urgent as a thoroughgoing revamping of the intelligence community. At the moment, it isn’t very impressive in either of the two main activities with which it’s entrusted: spying on our enemies and supporting our friends. You can see this easily enough. The Israelis, not the CIA et al., made off with the Iranians’ secret nuclear plans. So much for effective espionage. And there are two very closely linked enemies, Iran and Venezuela, that should be prime targets for subversion, but we don’t seem to be making good progress.

On the other hand, the intelligence community seems to do well, or at least try harder, at subverting our own political order, as we’ve learned over the recent past.

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WNU Editor: When you have the former FBI Chief of the Counterespionage Section more focused on getting rid of President Trump than doing his job .... Peter Strzok fired from the FBI (CNN). Or when former CIA Director Brennan accuses President Trump of working for Russia .... in essence calling him a traitor. That is when you know that you have a problem, and now is the time to clean house.

Is The U.S. Intelligence Community Trying To Undermine President Trump?

NBC

Sharyl Attkisson, The Hill: Intel operation against Trump still going strong

There was a great deal of news this past week about President Trump’s audacious disregard for the advice and warnings from his own intelligence community experts.

Perhaps there’s good reason for alarm.

But I think there’s one shocking aspect — perhaps a larger story — that’s gone virtually unreported. It appears that anonymous intelligence officials are executing an operation against the sitting commander-in-chief. It might not qualify as all-out mutiny, but it’s also not all that far from one.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. is a deeply divided nation, with a good part of the population who do not see President Trump as legitimate. In such a partisan environment I am sure that there are many in the intelligence community who feel this way, just as there are many in the media and public who would give voice to it. In the meantime, the leaks from anonymous sources continue, and the press fuels it.

This Is Why The Heads Of U.S. Intelligence Agencies Should Not Be Trusted

From left: FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testify on Capitol Hill in February, 2014. (Gary Cameron/Reuters)

Victor Davis Hanson, NRO: The Police Were Not Policed

How can Americans now trust the intelligence agencies shown to be corrupt in the very recent past?

No doubt Russia must be watched for its chronic efforts to sow more chaos in American elections — despite Barack Obama’s naïve assertion in 2016 that no entity could possibly ever rig a U.S. election, given the decentralization of state voting.

Lately the heads of four U.S. intelligence and security agencies — Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Chris Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone, and National Security Adviser John Bolton — held coordinated White House press conferences to remind America of the dangers of Russian chicanery. Trump, who is prone to conflate documented Russian efforts to meddle and cause chaos with unproven accusations of Trump-Russia collusion, should heed their warnings and beef up U.S. counter-espionage efforts and cyber deterrence.

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WNU Editor: A good summary on the actions and unethical behavior of those who ran America's law enforcement and intelligence agencies during 2016 and at the start of the Trump administration. The sad part is that I cannot help but believe that this list compiled by Victor Davis Hanson is just the tip of the iceberg.

An Indictment Of Military Intelligence In The Obama Era

Wikipedia

Fritz Corrigan, Forbes: A Sad Indictment Of Military Intelligence In The Obama Era

I learned several key life lessons during the time I spent as a U.S. Army intelligence officer, but among the most important was that a commanding officer’s example colors his or her subordinates’ actions. I took this insight with me into the corporate world after I left the service. Whether it’s on the battlefield or in the boardroom, the tone at the top exerts a strong influence on an entire team.

So I wasn’t surprised earlier this month when Congress released its initial findings on the intelligence community’s response to the Islamic State.

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WNU Editor: The failure of the U.S. intelligence/military community is nothing new. And while the focus is on what has happened under President Obama's watch .... there are many examples of intelligence failures in previous administrations .... the intelligence used in the Iraq invasion (and how top Bush officials cherry picked what they wanted to justify their policies) is on the top of my list on how military intelligence can be influenced by political leaders.

Why President Obama's Intelligence Scandal Is Not Going To Go Away

President Barack Obama listens during a meeting with aides on Air Force One en route to Beijing, China, Nov. 16, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

David J. Karl, The Diplomat: Connecting the Dots in Obama's Intelligence Scandal

An emerging scandal exemplifies a long-running critique of Obama’s foreign policy.

According to the Daily Beast (here and here) and the New York Times, some 50 intelligence analysts posted with U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, have formally complained that their superiors altered assessments about the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in order to adhere more closely with the Obama administration’s public line that the military campaign against these groups is progressing well.

There is, of course, a sad irony that a White House filled with people who frequently charge the George W. Bush administration with manipulating intelligence on the region now stand accused of the same thing.

WNU Editor: I suspect that there are many in the intelligence community who are now counting the days when President Obama leaves office.

This Is The Islamic State Intelligence That The U.S. Military 'Dumbed Down'

Shane Harris & Tim Mak, Daily Beast: Exclusive: This Is the ISIS Intel the U.S. Military Dumbed Down

The intelligence pros said killing certain ISIS leaders might not diminish the group and that airstrikes might not be working. The bosses didn’t like those answers—not at all.

Senior intelligence officials at the U.S. military’s Central Command demanded significant alterations to analysts’ reports that questioned whether airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State widely known as ISIS were damaging the group’s finances and its ability to launch attacks. But reports that showed the group being weakened by the U.S.-led air campaign received comparatively little scrutiny, The Daily Beast has learned.

Senior CENTCOM intelligence officials who reviewed the critical reports sent them back to the analysts and ordered them to write new versions that included more footnotes and details to support their assessments, according to two officials familiar with a complaint levied by more than 50 analysts about intelligence manipulation by CENTCOM higher-ups.

WNU Editor: I suspect that this is just the tip of the iceberg ... and what is troubling about all of this is that future intelligence reports from CENTCOM are now probably going to be suspect for a very long time. But how the White House is responding to all of this .... including the White House saying the President Obama was always sceptical of all of this and it is not his fault .... White House Refuses To Take Responsibility For A Failed Syrian Policy .... that is unprecedented and something that I have never heard a sitting President say when it comes to his own sanctioned intelligence/military operation.

Concerns Are Rising On US Intel Capabilities To Follow The Islamic State

Islamic State fighters parade on military vehicles along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province.

Analysis: Concerns Rise About US Intel Capabilities On IS -- Voice of America

Concerns about the capabilities of U.S. intelligence agencies have been steadily rising, sparked in part by comments from President Barack Obama that they “underestimated” the rise of the group known as Islamic State.

But far from an intelligence failure, insiders and analysts warn the furor is symptomatic of larger problems that could haunt the U.S. in years to come.

For weeks, Islamic State militants have besieged Kobani, the majority-Kurd Syrian city at the doorstep of NATO partner Turkey. Yet for weeks, U.S. military leaders said Kobani was not the focus of anti-IS strategy.

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My Comment: Much of the problem with understanding and analyzing the Islamic State has been due to politics .... not intelligence. This VOA post explains why .... and it is a sobering read.

Are U.S. Intelligence Operations At A 'Turning Point'

A Spy World Reshaped By Edward Snowden -- L.A. Times

Leaks from the former NSA contractor have been so illuminating that experts say they mark a turning point in U.S. intelligence operations.

WASHINGTON — After news reports that the National Security Agency had secretly monitored German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone calls, America's top intelligence official was asked why congressional oversight committees were kept in the dark.

Shouldn't Congress have been briefed, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) asked James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, about a spying operation that would embarrass the U.S. government if exposed?

"Well, sir, there are many things we do in intelligence that, if revealed, would have the potential for all kinds of blowback," Clapper replied at a House Intelligence Committee hearing in October. "The conduct of intelligence is premised on the notion that we can do it secretly, and we don't count on it being revealed in the newspaper."

Not these days.

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My Comment: The world wide web has changed everything .... secrets cannot be kept with confidence anymore.

Did The Obama Administration National Security Plan During The Shutdown Put The Country At Risk?

Shutdown misstep: How Obama Administration Plan Put Country At Risk -- Anita Kumar, McClatchy Washington

WASHINGTON — It may be one of the most serious missteps of the federal government shutdown.

After weeks of planning, the nation’s spy chief sent home nearly three-quarters of the workers at the government’s intelligence agencies when faced with the partial shutdown. The move, James Clapper later admitted himself, put the United States at greater risk of terrorist attacks. He then reversed course and brought thousands of employees back to work.

A review by McClatchy finds that lawmakers, former intelligence officials and national security experts say they were shocked that the administration furloughed the bulk of federal workers at 16 intelligence agencies, many of them tasked with the most important job in the government: safeguarding lives.

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My Comment: From my vantage point it appears that they did not even have a plan. It was all done on an ad hoc basis.

Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials On President Obama`s Commitment To "Reform" The NSA

White House

What NSA Reforms? -- Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

President Obama’s message about the government’s massive electronic surveillance programs came through loud and clear: Get over it.

The president used more soothing words in his pre-vacation news conference Friday, but that was the gist. With perhaps the application of a fig leaf here and a sheen of legalistic mumbo jumbo there, the snooping will continue.

Unless, of course, we demand that it end.

The modest reforms Obama proposed do not begin to address the fundamental question of whether we want the National Security Agency to log all of our phone calls and read at least some of our e-mails, relying on secret judicial orders from a secret court for permission. The president indicated he is willing to discuss how all this is done — but not whether.

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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials On President Obama`s Commitment To "Reform" The NSA

Obama Has Already Broken His Pledge on Surveillance Reform -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
If Obama wanted an 'open debate' on NSA spying, why thwart one for so long? -- Jennifer Hoelzer, The Guardian
Obama's 'Independent' Review Of Mass Spying Is Destined For Failure -- Paul Szoldra, SFGate/Business Insider
Classic Obama charade: Appoint a crony to investigate himself -- Andrew Malcolm, Investors.com
Obama's Security Retreat -- Wall Street Journal editorial
N.S.A. Leaks Make Plan for Cyberdefense Unlikely -- David Sanger, New York Times
Fix NSA mess -- or else -- Christopher Slobogin, Special to CNN
US National Security Agency 'is surveillance leviathan' -- Pia Gadkari BBC News
The Lies Aren't What Makes Obama's NSA Stance So Awful -- Jeffrey Rosen, New Republic
Review Board Drives NSA Activities into Further Secrecy -- Paul D. Shinkman, US News and World Report
How to Restore Trust in U.S. Surveillance -- Gary Berntsen, Real Clear Defense
The Surveillance Speech: A Low Point in Barack Obama's Presidency -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
Barack Obama must go further on domestic surveillance -- Newsday editorial
How NSA surveillance endangers the Fourth Amendment -- Jonathan Hafetz, Yahoo News
Can Americans ever trust their spies? -- Marc Ambinder, The Week
5 More Frightening Details About the NSA -- Kevin Mathews, Care2
Pardon Edward Snowden -- Robert Scheer, Huffington Post
How to Decode the True Meaning of What NSA Officials Say -- Jameel Jaffer and Brett Max Kaufman, Slate

Women Are Now Breaking The 'Glass Ceiling' In U.S. National Security

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with U.S. Secret Service agent Julia Pierson (L) after she is sworn in as the first woman Director of the Secret Service by Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 27, 2013. Larry Downing / REUTERS

National Security’s Alpha Women -- Michael Crowley, Time

Today’s popular culture features some memorable terrorist-hunting heroines, from Homeland’s tenacious Carrie Mathison to Zero Dark Thirty’s steely Maya. In reality, national security remains very much a boys’ club. But that’s slightly less true thanks to the recent rise of women to three of the U.S.’s most sensitive and secretive jobs.

President Obama has a new White House counterterrorism adviser in Lisa Monaco, a top Justice Department lawyer who stepped in when the job’s prior occupant, John Brennan, took over the CIA last month. Just before Brennan decamped for Langley, a female career CIA employee assumed command of the agency’s deeply secretive clandestine service. (The woman is undercover, making her name secret enough that if they told you, they really might have to kill you.) And on March 26, Obama put a woman in charge of protecting his own life when he named Julia Pierson director of the Secret Service.

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My Comment: I suspect that these women have been incredibly effective at their job .... and if that is the case, kudos to them for receiving their deserved promotions.

A Critique On President Obama 'Skipping' Intelligence Briefings

President Barack Obama is briefed by members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House, October 29, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Obama Alone: This President Does Not Need Intel Briefers -- Marc A. Thiessen, Washington Post

How long had it been since President Obama attended his daily intelligence meeting in the lead-up to the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Egypt and Libya? After all, our adversaries are known to use the anniversary of 9/11 to target the United States.

According to the public schedule of the president, the last time the Obama attended his daily intelligence meeting was Sept. 5 — a week before Islamist radicals stormed our embassy in Cairo and terrorists killed our ambassador to Tripoli. The president was scheduled to hold the intelligence meeting at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, the day after the attacks, but it was canceled so that he could comfort grieving employees at the State Department — as well he should. But instead of rescheduling the intelligence briefing for later in the day, Obama apparently chose to skip it altogether and attend a Las Vegas fundraiser for his re-election campaign. One day after a terrorist attack.

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My Comment: Marc Thiessen is a fierce critic of President Obama .... and he does not disappoint in his commentary on President Obama skipping intel briefs. What's my take .... I would have to say yes and no. President Obama should attend his meetings more than what he has been doing .... you intend these meetings to ask questions, and more to the point .... to offer suggestions and/or to emphasize what needs to be followed up. Reading a brief and then sending a memo will not cut it. On the other hand .... these briefings have probably not satisfied President Obama that he should make it a daily routine .... hence the "skipping" of the daily briefings. He probably also has confidence in his staff .... that they would stress what is important and will inform him when an issue needs to be looked at right away.

Still .... every past President's made it a routine to always be present at these briefings .... President Obama should also make this same effort.

Update: Here is an interesting article on how technology is changing White House intel briefings.

Update #2: Wow .... even the New York Times is raising questions. But the part of this NYT's article that surprised me was that President Clinton only met his CIA Director privately once a year!!!!

Another U.S. Intelligence Failure?

Photo: CIA Director Petraeus

Petraeus Briefs Lawmakers Amid Middle East Violence -- The Hill

CIA Director David Petraeus traveled to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on Thursday in the aftermath of the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya and embassies in Egypt and Yemen.

Petraeus briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door, 90-minute meeting that had been previously scheduled but took on a new significance in the wake of the attacks Tuesday night that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others dead.

At the end of the meeting, Petraeus was whisked past a throng of television cameras staking out the briefing. He did not take questions or give a statement.

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My Comment: The politicians want answers .... and reading reports like this one is raising questions.

Update: What’s Wrong with U.S. Intelligence? -- Michael Rubin, Commentary

How The Arab Spring Has Weakened U.S. Intelligence Efforts

Protests in Egypt. Photo from Bikyamasr

Intelligence Test -- Christopher Dickey, Newsweek

With dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen collapsed or collapsing, America’s spies have lost many of their most valued allies in the war against the jihadists.

Among American spies there’s more than a little nostalgia for the bad old days. You know, back before dictators started toppling in the Middle East; back when suspected bad guys could be snatched off a street somewhere and delivered to the not-so-tender mercies of interrogators in their home countries; back when thuggish tyrants, however ugly, were at least predictable.

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My Comment: A sobering assessment on weakening U.S. intelligence efforts in the Arab world. A part of me is telling me that U.S. intelligence officials are trying to cover their rear-end in case something goes wrong like a successful terror attack against the U.S. mainland ..... but another part is telling me that their concerns are actually justified, and that U.S. intelligence efforts are being severely limited with the changes that are now happening in the Arab world.

The Wikileaks Intelligence Disaster Will Probably Undo Post-9/11 Intelligence Reforms

Newspaper fronts reporting on the documents released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks are seen in New York, on Nov. 29. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

How WikiLeaks Could Undo Post-9/11 Intelligence Reforms -- Christian Science Monitor

A former US diplomat who helped push for the intelligence-sharing reforms aimed at preventing another 9/11 says the WikiLeaks fiasco could prompt a reversal.

Governments are already using the WikiLeaks release of a trove of US diplomatic traffic to bolster their own international agendas, from Israel's push for military action against Iran, to Iran's effort to paint US engagement as insincere.

But the WikiLeaks intelligence fiasco could have far-reaching implications for US diplomacy, well after the initial shock waves subside. By sending a message to America's counterparts and confidential informants around the world that the US can't keep conversations private, the controversy could severely compromise the quality of information US policymakers receive, and America's own ability to coordinate its diplomatic and antiterror efforts.

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My Comment: Unfortunately, undoing post-9/11 intelligence reforms will probably be the end result from the Wikileaks intelligence disaster. Intelligence information will now be compartmentalized, with only those with a need to know being the only ones who will have access to intelligence data. As for the State Department .... this disaster will take years to recover, and unfortunately for Sec. of State Clinton she will be remembered (unjustly) as the person who had this happen on her watch.

Obama's Problems With The Intelligence Community -- A Commentary

President Obama spoke at C.I.A. headquarters as C.I.A. director Leon Panetta looked on.
Jim Wilson/The New York Times

From The American Thinker:

The Newsweek story covered by Clarice Feldman this morning regarding the briefing Obama received three days before the attack about possible Christmas terror plots seemed a little strange.

After all, it was based on a conversation with a "high administration official" which usually means someone with regular access to the president. The question is why would anyone close to the president leak the story that he had been briefed just days prior to the attack that something might happen?

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My Comment: I think President Obama's problems with the U.S. intelligence community has been one of the most under reported stories for 2009. When he declared his intent to nominate a special prosecutor to investigate CIA torture abuses last year .... this was perceived by many as a direct attack against the CIA and those who have been contracted to work for them. Having a legal sword over your head is not a good way to maintain morale and motivastion within any organization .... an environment that can only help our enemies and dissuade those who want to help us.

My prediction .... these "problems" are going to get worse.