U.S. President Donald Trump stands with the new CIA Director Gina Haspel during her swearing-in ceremony at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia, U.S. May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Vernon Loeb, The Atlantic: How Not to Smooth Things Over With the CIA
The president’s strained relationship with the intelligence community goes back to his visit to Langley just a day after his inauguration.
On President Donald Trump’s first full day in office, he crossed the Potomac to visit CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he attempted to assure the intelligence professionals gathered there that nobody—nobody—cared about the agency more than he did. Of course, the people who work at the CIA are paid to see through such deception—which, in this case, may not have been terribly hard, given that Trump had just days earlier compared them to Nazis.
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WNU Editor: This blog has been critical of the CIA and the U.S. intelligence community since the beginning. From over-stating the Russian threat to underestimating the threat from China. From the politicization of the agency under Former CIA Director John Brennan to the many leaks to the media under President Trump .... there has been a problem with the community. But in the past year there has been a huge change in the agency. Personnel have left. Leaks are few and far between. New leadership from CIA Director Gina Haspel on down have changed the community, and the impression that I am getting from what I am reading is that the community is focused on fulfilling President Trump's policy objectives and not the other way around. I know this could all change in a heartbeat, but the strains that existed between CIA that President Trump inherited from President Obama have definitely been toned down.
