Trump will soon be getting briefings from U.S. spy agencies. It might not go well. - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/05/donald-trump-will-soon-be-getting-briefings-from-u-s-spy-agencies-it-might-not-go-well/?tid=pm_world_pop_b
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told my colleague Robert Costa that he is eager to start meeting with U.S. intelligence officials for classified briefings on the nation’s secrets. The feeling may not be mutual.
The outlandish GOP candidate is not known for discretion or nuanced understanding of global security issues, let alone awareness of the widespread revulsion among U.S. intelligence officials over some of Trump’s positions — including his expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and pledge to resume torturing terrorism suspects.
Where should the U.S. intelligence community’s first PowerPoint presentation for Trump begin?
Where should the U.S. intelligence community’s first PowerPoint presentation for Trump begin?
[…]
Either way, Director of National Intelligence and CIA analysts may have little leeway in what they present. The decision on how much to share and when are traditionally made by the sitting president.
“The candidates get the same information — no favoritism,” said David Priess, a former CIA briefer and author of “The President’s Book of Secrets,” a history of the PDB. “It’s not that the briefer can freelance.”
Pre-election briefings tend to be overviews of spy agency assessments of major topics such as the civil war in Syria. That changes after Election Day, however, when separate teams are sent in advance to the candidates’ headquarters. The winner is given a deeper briefing on more highly classified material, including CIA operations overseas. The other team heads back to headquarters without briefing the losing candidate.
Analysts selected for such assignments tend to be among the most polished and experienced in the intelligence community. “They are going to be very professional,” Peritz said, but Trump poses unique complications. “He has all kinds of relationships with Chinese investors and Russian investors. He’s spoken very highly of our adversaries. And he’s talked about using torture and waterboarding and attacking people’s families. All these things are going through the analysts’ minds.”
