Former President Donald Trump spoke at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on his first day in office, January 21, 2017. But he had a difficult relationship with the intelligence community during his term. his president.
Andrew Harnik / AP
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Andrew Harnik / AP
Former President Donald Trump spoke at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on his first day in office, January 21, 2017. But he had a difficult relationship with the intelligence community during his term. his president.
Andrew Harnik / AP
It’s not exactly classified information – former president Donald Trump and the intelligence community don’t get along. But in an updated book, Learn about the President, The story is told from within.
The author is a former CIA officer, John Helgerson, who spent 38 years at the agency. The publisher is the CIA’s internal research center. And the book is freely available on CIA website.
Helgerson okay straight to the problem: “For the intelligence community, the Trump transition [from candidate to president] is the hardest and most difficult in its historical experience with the introduction of new presidents. “
Helgerson says the only comparable case is that of President Richard Nixon, who was highly suspicious of the intelligence agencies and essentially ignored them, while Trump regularly sparred with them publicly and privately. private.
In his tense relationship with the national security community, Trump has managed to work his way through multiple national security advisers, the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense.
But the account cites insiders, like Trump’s frequent talker during the first few years of his presidency, CIA veteran Ted Gistaro. He said of Trump and the leather-bound summary, “He touched it. He really didn’t read anything.”
James Clapper is the director of national intelligence who was responsible for Trump’s press conference as he transitioned from candidate to president in late 2016 and early 2017. He said that Trump tends to “fly the line. tangential; maybe eight or nine minutes of real intelligence in an hour of discussion.”
Clapper says the traditional way of doing business with the intelligence community doesn’t work well for Trump because he has “no reality” – the evidence doesn’t cut that off for him. “
Former CIA officer David Priest was a brief learner during the administration of former president George W. Bush and wrote his own book on the subject, The Presidential Secret Book.
He said the revelation that surprised him the most was that “President Trump, during the first few weeks of his administration, was not briefed on the entire [CIA’s] The previous administration’s covert programs of action, on Inauguration Day, became President Trump’s covert action programs. “
Different presidential styles
All presidents have a personal preference for receiving the daily briefing. The end product was the work of the entire intelligence community, although the CIA played a major role in putting the documents together, under the supervision of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Some presidents prefer oral briefings, others prefer print reading. President Barak Obama was the first to read it on an iPad.
But in general, presidents tend to receive briefings every day of the week.
Trump received oral briefings two or three times a week at the start of his presidency.
“The only country that occasionally discussed with the president the most during this period was China,” Helgerson wrote. “North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are priorities… Similarly, coverage continues on developments in Ukraine and Russia; Trump follows both closely.”
But in the latter part of his term, it was Trump’s practice to call only two 45-minute briefings a week, Helgerson said.
The author said Trump did not receive intelligence briefings during the last tumultuous month of his presidency from late December 2020 to January 20 this year.
“After the 2020 election, the briefings also continued for a period of time. When [CIA briefer Beth] Sanner spoke briefly to the president before he went to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, saying he would see her later. Helgerson wrote:
A book published by the CIA
Helgerson wrote the first edition of this book in 1996, while he was still at the agency (He retired in 209). He reviews intelligence briefings for new presidential and presidential candidates, and has updated the book with each new administration. The new version is fourth editionand includes a Chapter 40 pages devoted entirely to Trump.
The book is published by CIA Intelligence Research Center, which is essentially the CIA’s research arm, publishes declassified documents in book form and on the CIA’s website.
These works are not strictly official documents, but they are insider accounts published with the blessing of the CIA.
Trump has had many wars with the intelligence community, and the ones with Russia are the most epic.
One of the most important dates was January 6th – not this year, when the Capitol was stormed – but four years before that, January 6, 2017.
On that day, after Trump won the election and two weeks before he was sworn in, top intelligence leaders traveled from Washington to New York to brief the president-elect at Trump Towers.
Much of the discussion has focused on Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, with intelligence leaders insisting the evidence against Moscow is overwhelming.
But at the end of the meeting, then-FBI Director James Comey told Trump about Steele Dossier, produced by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Comey stressed that the document did not come from US intelligence and the claims were unconfirmed, but Trump should have known the document was in circulation so he wouldn’t be blindsided.
As we’ve learned, this profile is highly problematic, with discredited absurd claims. But Trump always seems to hold American intelligence accountable, and this sets the tone for a very strained relationship.
Greg Myre is NPR’s national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.
