Tuesday 16 May 2017

Trump's intel blunder

Assuming the Washington Post and New York Times stories are true, Trump has committed the gravest of sins. He got so excited about the top secret intelligence he had been briefed on about an Isis plot that he revealed it to.........Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. Now you might argue, so what? Russia is as anti-Isis as the US and the rest of us, so it's not like Moscow is going to tip off the Islamic militants about a likely spy in their ranks. But that's not the point. The point is that Trump, impetuous as ever, decided to tell Lavrov that they had a brilliant source - or actually even more damaging, an ally had a brilliant source - inside Isis who was revealing all the latest plottings. The intelligence agency that passed such an amazing titbit about a laptop plot to the US was most likely one of the so-called Five Eyes group of countries. That's the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada who share pretty well everything with the US. It could be the Saudis but I think unlikely. So if it's the UK or one of the other prime intelligence allies, it could not be more damaging. You simply do not reveal anything about Five Eyes intel to anyone else unless specific permission is given. Why? Because of the need to protect sources. HR McMaster and Rex Tillerson came out and spoke to reporters as soon as the story broke and said it was false. But read their lips!! They said Trump did not reveal any sources or methods or operations. They know that because they were in the room at the time Trump blurted out his scoop to Lavrov. This is probably strictly true but it's the truth surrounded by a blatant omission. If Trump said: "Hey, Sergei, we got this great source who has told us that Isis in Syria (ie Raqqa) is plotting to detonate a laptop bomb on an airliner." Lavrov doesn't need to know who the source is or which country passed this on to the US. He now knows, in fact the whole world knows, including Isis - thanks to the huge coverage given by every newspaper - that there's a spy working against Isis and providing key intel. But here's the really damaging bit of this new scandal in the Trump administration. The slip by Trump could have been contained within the White House - and the Kremlin - if the "official" and "former official" had not rushed off to warn the CIA and others about it and then informed the Washington Post and New York Times. Suddenly it's world news. I think that is unbelievably irresponsible. Trump was an idiot for telling Lavrov what he told him - never mind McMaster's dodgy denial - but the leak of the blunder then compounded the error by revealing it to the world. Now Isis has been tipped off, there'll be a hunt for the spy!! I don't want to think about the consequences of this latest ghastly example of Trump impetuosity and the irresponsibility of the leakers in Washington.

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