Trump criticises US intelligence chiefs

US president Donald Trump criticised top US intelligence chiefs on Twitter over their assessment of threats posed by North Korea, Iran & ISIS. The US Intelligence Chief, Dan Coats ’s contradicting claims at the Senate Intelligence Committee were dismissed.  

Background

President Donald Trump’s disagreements with US intelligence began after his election and before he took office. At the tail end of the Obama administration, the intelligence community produced an assessment that said Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. 

On 30 January 2019, in appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the country’s top intelligence officials delivered their annual global threat assessment in which they provided collective views on threats posed by ISIS, North Korea and Iran. It said  that the nuclear threat from North Korea remained and Iran was not taking steps towards making a nuclear bomb, drawing conclusions that contrasted starkly with Trump's judgement of these countries. It was noted that the Islamic State terrorist group, ISIL remains a forceful presence in Iraq and Syria.

Analysis 

US President Donald Trump called top US intelligence chiefs "extremely passive and naive" on Iran and dismissed their assessments of the threat posed by North Korea a day after they contradicted his views during congressional testimony.

The US intelligence officials told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons in violation of the agreement, even though Tehran has threatened to reverse some commitments after Trump pulled out of the deal. They said that Iran continues to work with other parties to the nuclear deal it reached with the U.S. and other world powers. In doing so, they said, it has at least temporarily lessened the nuclear threat. CIA director Gina Haspel said Iran was "technically... in compliance" with the nuclear deal, despite the US withdrawal and the imposition of stricter sanctions against Tehran. 

“The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran,” Trump tweeted. “They are wrong!” "When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but ... a source of potential danger and conflict." Trump pulled out of the international nuclear deal with Iran put in place saying Tehran was "not living up to the spirit" of the agreement, and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.  

Trump insisted on Twitter that the U.S. relationship with North Korea “is the best it has ever been.” He pointed to a halt in nuclear and missile tests by North Korea, the return of some U.S. service members’ remains and the release of detained Americans as signs of progress. "Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!" he said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House intelligence committee, credited the agencies with providing “rigorous and realistic analyses” of threats facing the nation. “It’s deeply dangerous that the White House isn’t listening,” Schiff tweeted. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate’s intelligence panel, also expressed displeasure with Trump’s comments. “The President has a dangerous habit of undermining the intelligence community to fit his alternate reality,” Warner tweeted. “People risk their lives for the intelligence he just tosses aside on Twitter.”

Their assessments also broke with other assertions by Trump, including on the threat posed by Russia to US elections, the threat that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group poses in Syria. The US spy chiefs said ISIL will continue to pursue attacks from Syria and Iraq against regional and Western adversaries, including the US.   Trump defended his decision to withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria on grounds that ISIL no longer poses a threat, saying "we've beaten them”. “Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago," Trump said on Twitter.

Assessment

Our assessment is that unlike other countries, US national security issues are discussed all over the social media. Important political discussions and disagreements are not done privately anymore. It is likely that this kind of engagement will underplay an issue such as the ‘nuclear threat’ or ‘terrorism’ , in return for support from ordinary citizens who  have less knowledge of geo political issues.