m*****s
发帖数: 4427 | 1 WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump will bring Michael Flynn ― a former head of the
Defense Intelligence Agency who was paid by a Russian state-funded
television network to speak at its 10th-anniversary gala ― to his first
national security briefing on Wednesday.
Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and high-profile adviser to Trump, has
attracted attention since he was pushed out of government in 2014 for
criticisms of what he says is the Obama administration’s failure to
confront “radical Islam,” his role as an analyst on the Russian network RT
, and his embrace of Trump.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that Flynn, along with New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie, would accompany Trump to his first top-secret briefing,
heightening critics’ fears that the Trump camp would gain access to secrets
it could potentially leak to contacts in the Kremlin. But former
intelligence officials familiar with the the briefings process said it’s
unlikely that the presidential nominees or their advisers will be looped in
on critical secrets until after the election in November.
It’s not unusual for presidential nominees to bring national security aides
to classified briefings. The candidates are automatically eligible for
briefings after receiving their party’s nomination, but aides must first be
vetted and granted an expedited security clearance, David Priess, author of
The President’s Book of Secrets, said in a phone interview. Priess, a
former CIA analyst and briefer, said he was not aware of any nominee’s
adviser ever being barred from attending a briefing.
A spokesman from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which
oversees the classified meetings, declined to elaborate on the vetting
process for the aides who accompany nominees.
If the intelligence community isn’t alarmed by Flynn’s post-government
connections with Russia and its propaganda outlet, it could be an indication
of the limited information that will be provided in Wednesday’s briefing.
Intelligence officials brief presidential nominees because one will end up
serving in the White House. But one won’t, so officials don’t share
sources, intelligence-gathering methods, or details of ongoing covert
operations, Priess said. “It’s intended to be an overview of the hotspots
around the globe,” he said. “It’s not intended to be absolutely
comprehensive.”
Michael Morell, former acting director of the CIA, echoed this assessment in
an interview with The Cipher Brief.
When classified briefings for presidential candidates began in 1952 under
then-President Harry Truman, the goal was to prepare potential commander in
chiefs for the array of threats facing the U.S. The reason for the briefings
has since evolved, according to Priess, into an effort to prevent
candidates from inadvertently saying something that may reduce their options
in the future or undermine current national security policy.
Because the briefings are rooted in tradition rather than law, the sitting
president has final say on who will be briefed and what information they
receive. Typically, the president delegates full control of the briefings to
the intelligence community ― which makes a deliberate effort to ensure
that the nominees receive the same information.
Morell, who has endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
candidacy, said the briefings could differ simply because of Clinton’s
experience on national security issues.
“I would expect the briefing for Secretary Hillary Clinton to delve into
issues more deeply and to be more of a dialogue than the briefing for Donald
Trump, which I would expect to be more of a tutorial, more of a first cut
at the issues, with the need to provide the history and background on issues
,” Morell said in the interview with The Cipher Brief.
If Clinton gains access to new information as a result of a back-and-forth
with intelligence officials, said Priess, the briefers would likely feel
obliged to share that information with Trump to avoid “even the perception
of bias.”
The intelligence community’s discretion to withhold especially sensitive
information from nominees and their advisers ends Nov. 8, when the next
commander in chief is chosen.
Trump appears increasingly aware of the poor optics of his past praise of
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decision to stock his small foreign
policy team with outspokenly pro-Russia advisers. On Monday, the Trump team
assembled a list of news clips into a press release accusing Clinton of
having close ties to Putin that deserve scrutiny. The timing of that
accusation makes Trump’s decision to bring Flynn to his first briefing a
dubious political move.
The explanation for that decision was offered through anonymous sources to
Fox News reporter John Roberts on Tuesday, who said Flynn was coming to “
interpret the reports” because “the Trump campaign is not confident of the
quality of the intelligence they will receive.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-trump-classified-briefing_us_57b3939fe4b0edfa80da28ca | j*********r
发帖数: 24733 | 2
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RT
【在 m*****s 的大作中提到】
: WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump will bring Michael Flynn ― a former head of the
: Defense Intelligence Agency who was paid by a Russian state-funded
: television network to speak at its 10th-anniversary gala ― to his first
: national security briefing on Wednesday.
: Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and high-profile adviser to Trump, has
: attracted attention since he was pushed out of government in 2014 for
: criticisms of what he says is the Obama administration’s failure to
: confront “radical Islam,” his role as an analyst on the Russian network RT
: , and his embrace of Trump.
: ABC News reported on Tuesday that Flynn, along with New Jersey Gov. Chris
| m*****s
发帖数: 4427 | |
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