No more intelligence secrets for Trump

I don't suppose it will ruin Donald Trump's day to be told by Joe Biden that he will not join the list of former presidents entitled to receive intelligence briefings to keep them up to date with what is going on in the undercover world. In fact he is the only former president to be barred from getting intelligence briefings because Biden doesn't trust him. But Trump never really believed in the intelligence titbits he was shown, he always claimed he knew more about intelligence than anyone in the spying business. So it's no big deal for him down in Florida to be kept out of the intelligence loop. But it's still an extraordinary step by Biden, a break with tradition and the clearest sign that the new administration wants to bury the Trump name. There is no mutual respect. Meanwhile Biden is shifting the intelligence leadership around, making it look more like the Obama era. He has brought back into the CIA David Cohen who was deputy director of the CIA from 2015 under Obama. Prior to that Cohen ran this brilliant department in the Treasury which tracks terrorist groups' financial networks and it's very good at it. Cohen was particularly sharp and brought this expertise to the CIA. Biden recognised that and wanted him back at the CIA in the same job, deputy director. He will be particularly influential because the Biden selection for CIA director is William Burns who although a customer of intelligence for years in his capacity as senior diplomat, has never actually worked in the intelligence community. The two should mix and match pretty well. Avril Haines, who also served as deputy director of the CIA is now the director of national intelligence, in overall charge (sort of) of 18 US intelligence agencies. It used to be 17 agencies, including the office of the director of national intelligence, but now it's 18 because the Trump-created Space Force has its own intelligence branch. All the military services have their own intelligence branches, including the Coast Guard, and they all come under Avril Haines' area of responsibility. She will be the one who gives Biden and Kamala Harris, the vice president, the daily Presidential Brief which includes the very tastiest of intelligence morsels. This is the stuff which Trump will not be allowed to see. Ever. He wouldn't believe it anyway, so it's no great shakes. But it's still one in the eye for Trump who was president of the United States SEVENTEEN days ago.