So Much Power, So Little Intelligence
I have commented in the past on Trump's choice of unqualified and reprehensible individuals to head every department of government. The current news from the halls of power in Washington confirms the obvious.
The recent scoop by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic magazine has blown the minds of every individual with an ounce of common sense. I will not repeat it here - the story is everywhere. https://www.theatlantic.com/
What I will comment on, is the comments of others who have the authority and experience to be absolutely gob smacked by the abject carelessness and stupidity of the people around Donald Trump who allowed this to happen. Then when they were questioned and challenged about it, lie and blow it off - arguing that the mission was a success and that they "have learned from their mistake".
First, from a newsletter sent to me by a friend and relative in the US, written by an American historian, Heather Cox Richardson, the incredulous response from accomplished observers, say it all:
When asked about the breach, Trump responded: “I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. To me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it’s not much of a magazine. But I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had what?” There is nothing that the administration could say to make the situation better, but this made it worse. As national security specialist Tom Nichols noted: “If the President is telling the truth and no one’s briefed him about this yet, that’s another story in itself. In any other administration, [the chief of staff] would have been in the Oval [Office] within nanoseconds of learning about something like this.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is evidently going to try to bully his way out of this disaster. When asked about it, he began to yell at a reporter that Goldberg is a “deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” Hegseth looked directly at the camera and said: “Nobody was texting war plans.” But Goldberg has receipts. The chat had “the specific time of a future attack. Specific targets, including human targets…weapons systems…precise detail…a long section on sequencing…. He can say that it wasn’t a war plan, but it was a minute-by-minute accounting of what was about to happen.”
Zachary B. Wolf of CNN noted that “Trump intentionally hired amateurs for top jobs. This is their most dramatic blunder.” Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) told Brian Tyler Cohen: “My first reaction... was 'what absolute clowns.' Total amateur hour, reckless, dangerous…. [T]his is what happens when you have basically Fox News personalities cosplaying as government officials.” Foreign policy scholar Timothy Snyder posted: “These guys inherited one of the most functional state apparatus in the history of the world and they are inhabiting it like a crack house.”
Many observers have noted that all of these national security officials knew that using Signal in this way was against the law, and their comfort with jumping onto the commercial app to plan a military strike suggests they are using Signal more generally. “How many Signal chats with sensitive information about military operations are ongoing within the Pentagon right now?” Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) posted. “Where else are war plans being shared with such abject disregard for our national security? We need answers. Right now.”
National security journalists and officials are aghast. Former commanding general of United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army Mark Hertling called the story “staggering.” Former CIA officer Matt Castelli posted: “This is more than ‘loose lips sink ships’, this is a criminally negligent breach of classified information and war planning involving VP, SecDef, D[irector of the] CIA, National Security Advisor—all putting troops at risk. America is not safe.” Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who spent seven years as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, posted: “From an operational security perspective, this is the highest level of f**kup imaginable. These people cannot keep America safe.”
Rhode Island senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said: "If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen. The carelessness shown by President Trump's cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the Administration immediately." Armed Services Committee member Don Bacon (R-NE), a former Air Force brigadier general, told Axios that “sending this info over non-secure networks” was “unconscionable.” “Russia and China are surely monitoring his unclassified phone.”
That the most senior members of Trump’s administration were sharing national security secrets on unsecure channels is especially galling since the people on the call have used alleged breaches of national security to hammer Democrats. Sarah Longwell and J.V. Last of The Bulwark compiled a series of video clips of Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, Tulsi Gabbard, John Ratcliffe, and especially Pete Hegseth talking about the seriousness of handling secret information and the need for accountability for those who mishandle it. When they were accusing then–secretary of state Hillary Clinton of such a breach, they called for firings, accountability, and perhaps criminal charges. Indeed, Trump rose to power in 2016 with the charge that Clinton should be sent to prison for using a private email server. “Lock her up!” became the chant at his rallies.
Classic Trump, to first say he knew nothing about it, disparage the source and the journalist, conveniently ignore past crusades about alleged security leaks, then later defend his incompetent loyalists. In the first Trump administration we were assured by the revolving door of cabinet appointments and "advisors", fired by Trump because they disagreed with him, that there were still "adults in the room" to rein in the stupidity that swirled around the table.
In the midst of all the other American approaches to international relations, is interesting to read that Russia seizes the opportunity to take the high road, issuing the statement for "the need for all parties to immediately cease the use of force and the importance of engaging in political dialogue to prevent further bloodshed.” Really? With this kind of response, the Russians have made the gall meter spin around until it shatters.
In the broader picture of geopolitics the moral leadership of the USA has long been lost, and by example, they provide the Russians and Chinese with the latitude to continue their quests for further conquests. Moreover, the long held autocratic mantra that democratic systems will fail in favour of their own systems of control, has an ever increasing credence.
What does this portend for Canada? Our vulnerabilities will be exploited by all three of these countries. Our coasts in general and the Arctic in particular, are the most vulnerable to incursion. These vulnerabilities demand massive investments in our defense capabilities, first and foremost. In the cyberspace, like many countries with open systems, we are especially at risk of disruption. The investments in technology and people required to protect us in this space will also be extensive and hopefully, not too little, too late.
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