Why Trump picked a man with no intelligence background to be his top spy chief.

FULL VERSION OF MY TIMES STORY TODAY: President Trump has chosen a loyal diplomat without any intelligence background to be the next US spy supremo. Richard Grenell, ambassador to Germany since May 2018 and a staunch Trump loyalist, is to be the next acting director of national intelligence (DNI), in overall charge of 17 agencies including the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA). Mr Grenell, 53, who is openly gay, was described yesterday by a former senior US intelligence official as “the least qualified person” to be America’s top spy chief. Before his appointment as ambassador in Berlin he served as America’s spokesman at the United Nations. During his election campaign and the early stages of his presidency Mr Trump demonstrated his suspicion of the intelligence services, dating back to when they unanimously agreed that Russia had interfered in the 2016 vote which led to the defeat of Hillary Clinton. All Mr Grenell’s predecessors since the post was first created in 2005 were steeped in the spying world either as top officials of the intelligence services or, as in the case of Dan Coats (March 2017 – August 2019), a longstanding member of the Senate intelligence committee. Senator Mark Warner, current Democratic vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, tweeted :”It appears the president has selected an individual ‘without any intelligence experience’ to serve as the leader of the national intelligence community.” Mr Grenell, like Mr Trump, turns to Twitter to voice his opinions, often in defence of the president’s foreign policies. Most recently he has been warning countries, such as Britain, against using 5G technology from China’s Huawei company or risk a reduction in intelligence-sharing. Mr Grenell will replace retired Vice Admiral Joseph Maguire, former director of the national counter-terrorism centre and an ex- Navy Seal who assumed the acting DNI role in August. Under federal law, Admiral Maguire whose appointment was received with enthusiasm within the intelligence community, could only serve in an acting role for 210 days and will step down on March 11. Mr Trump decided against nominating him for the permanent appointment which requires Senate confirmation. The retired admiral succeeded Senator Coats who was ousted, along with his deputy Susan Gordon, a career intelligence official, soon after the story broke about Mr Trump’s phone call to newly-elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked him a favour: to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, a board member of a Ukrainian natural gas company. Admiral Maguire became involved in the Ukraine affair which led to Mr Trump’s impeachment and acquittal this month when a CIA whistleblower was the first to report alarm over the July phone call Mr Trump made to Mr Zelensky. The admiral said the whistleblower “did the right thing”. In another development, John Rood, undersecretary of defence for policy, has been forced to resign after being informed that Mr Trump wanted him out. He had clashed with the White House over Ukraine and Syria. Mr Rood, a former top Lockheed Martin executive and ex-CIA analyst who took over the most senior policy post at the Pentagon more than two years ago, had raised concerns over the freezing of US military aid to Ukraine last summer. The alleged “quid pro quo” ultimatum – the suspending of US military aid until Mr Zelensky cooperated with investigating the Bidens – formed the basis of Mr Trump’s impeachment trial. LATER DEVELOPMENT: Admiral Maguire enraged Trump when he sent one of his top lawyers to brief the House of Representatives intelligence committee who informed them that Moscow was plotting to interfere in the 2020 election, just like it did in 2016, to make sure Trump won. Trump tore into Maguire in a session in the Oval Office and he was ousted as director of national intelligence. Until then Maguire had been given a pretty good hint that he would be nominated for the permanent post. OUCH!