Alex Newman
In what analysts are suggesting is highly suspicious, establishment voices want American intelligence agencies to feed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump “fake” briefings. As the Republican and Democrat nominees begin receiving classified intelligence briefings, questions surrounding the accuracy and completeness of the information Trump is getting may indeed be warranted. For one, top officials and prominent voices, including Democrat Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, have openly and repeatedly called for intelligence agencies to supply “fake” briefings to the Republican nominee.
There are other reasons to be concerned. Even before the classified information began flowing, Trump had made explosive comments that — while true — implicated the highest levels of the U.S. government in major criminal activity. Speaking on the rise of the Islamic State, or ISIS, for example, Trump had already highlighted on numerous occasions the massive role played by the Obama administration and his then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Once Trump has more smoking guns about the lawless behavior of top Obama officials, it is reasonable to wonder whether the GOP contender, assuming he truly is the “anti-establishment” candidate he portrays himself as, would be able to morally keep that information to himself. Indeed, some analysts have suggested that such concerns may be the reason that “intelligence” bureaucrats and establishment politicians want to feed Trump fake information.
One of those sounding the alarm was the editor of Technocracy News, which documents the global push for imposing technocratic-style totalitarian rule on humanity. “The Intelligence community does not dare to share their corrupted and illegally-gathered intel with outsiders, because it would expose their rogue underbelly,” the editor said in a post. “The answer? Give Trump fake reports.” It is at least plausible, and maybe even probable.
Indeed, U.S. intelligence agencies have been caught in dangerous, extreme, and criminal activities over and over again. From trafficking drugs and weapons to supplying WMDs for mass-murdering dictators and backing violent revolutions, from mass-murder programs and propaganda operations to illegally spying on Americans and possibly treasonous support for officially designated terrorist organizations, among other crimes, Washington, D.C.’s hugely expensive “intelligence” apparatus has gone increasingly rogue in recent decades.
The CIA has even become “one hell of a killing machine,” according to one of its own officials, who spoke anonymously to the Washington Post about the agency’s mass-murder operations spanning the globe. Even American citizens, including children, have been murdered by the “intelligence” bureaucracies — often without even being formally charged with a crime, much less having a fair trial. Would Trump be shocked to learn who is on Obama’s wildly illegal but officially acknowledged assassination list? Maybe.
So it is perhaps no surprise that the enablers, supporters, beneficiaries, and participants involved in such outrageous behavior — all done in secret, allegedly to “keep America safe” — would seek to hide that incriminating information from people who may spill the beans. And while there is no guarantee that Trump would in fact expose criminal activity within government, the establishment appears very concerned that, at the very least, it might not be able to control and manipulate him.
The first major establishment figure to propose fake intelligence briefings for Trump appears to have been Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “How would the CIA and the other intelligence agencies brief this guy? How could they do that? I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous,” Reid exclaimed in an interview last month with the ultra-statist Huffington Post, which posts a note at the end of articles dealing with Trump accusing him of being a “racist,” “misogynist,” “rampant xenophobe,” and more. “Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.”
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev)
Ignoring Clinton’s favors for the Kremlin and its operatives while serving as secretary of state, Reid suggested Trump might actually be an agent of Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “This guy, he’s part of a foreign power,” complained Reid in an attempt to justify his call for providing fake briefings to Trump. “We knew he liked Putin before this, but this is quite ridiculous.” In a later interview, Reid remained adamant. “I’ve said publicly, give him fake briefings,” the retiring senator said.
Intelligence officials have made similar remarks. According to John Heilemann, managing editor of the establishment mouthpiece Bloomberg Politics, “some intelligence officials” have suggested that “they are concerned about Donald Trump having these briefings.” Considering what is known publicly about the activities of the U.S. government’s “intelligence” agencies, that should not be a surprise. Evildoers, of course, are always afraid of their activities coming to light.
Republicans, meanwhile, have expressed concerns over Hillary Clinton’s briefings, too. The Democratic Party nominee was even publicly slammed by FBI chief James Comey for mishandling classified information. In a bizarre press conference in which he argued against criminal charges despite outlining serious statutory crimes Clinton committed, Comey said Clinton was “extremely careless” in handling classified e-mails.
Citing Comey’s comments about Clinton’s tenure as Obama’s Secretary of State, House Speaker Paul Ryan sent a letter to top intelligence officials urging them not to give Clinton any classified information. In the letter, sent in July, Ryan noted that there was no legal requirement that she receive classified material. He also said it would “send the wrong signal to all those charged with safeguarding our nation’s secrets if you choose to provide her access to this information despite the FBI’s findings.”
Trump even joked about it. “You can’t brief her,” he said about Clinton at a campaign rally after referencing her mishandling of classified information. “Let’s protest.” Attendees at the rally responded with laughter. “Lock her up” has become a common chant at Trump rallies, too, as Clinton critics urge that she be prosecuted for a wide range of crimes.
Former CIA officer and briefer David Priess, speaking to the unabashedly pro-Clinton CNN, noted that this election season was somewhat unique. “You have a candidate who seems to say what he thinks without a filter,” he said, referring to Trump. On the other hand, he noted that Clinton has already been in hot water over mishandling classified information.
General Michael Hayden, the former NSA and CIA boss who once boasted of murdering people with drones based on their “metadata,” claimed there was a “body of evidence” suggesting that Trump was, as Clinton put it, “totally unfit and unqualified to be commander-in-chief.” Still, he said Trump, as the GOP nominee, was entitled to intelligence briefings.
General Michael Hayden
“It’s a necessary idea,” Hayden said in an interview with establishment media service CBS. “It’s not quite what the Constitution requires. It’s not written down, but it is our protocol. You get the nomination of one or both of those parties, [then] you are entitled to some classified information.”
When asked about calls for Trump to receive “fake” briefings, Hayden appeared to disagree with the idea. “The sitting president has to treat both candidates perfectly equally,” he said, suggesting the Obama administration would have to provide Clinton and Trump with exactly the same information.
However, while top secret information will be available, there is much that neither candidate will get access to. “The briefings between now and the election will be very vanilla; they will be ‘classified lite,’” Hayden said, adding that neither candidate would be receiving the same daily briefings as Obama gets. “This is going to look like one of those think-tank seminars on steroids,” he added. “This isn’t going to be ‘Let me show you the covert actions.’”
Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said both candidates would be receiving the exact same briefings. “It’s not up to the administration, and it’s certainly not up to me personally, to decide on the suitability of a presidential candidate,” he said. In a July letter responding to House Speaker Ryan, Clapper also noted that briefings for the candidates “will be provided on an even-handed non-partisan basis.” He said neither candidate needs a security clearance to receive the information.
Of course, if what Trump learns from his “intelligence” briefings is sufficiently evil, illegal, or immoral, he might have a moral and legal duty to blow the whistle and expose it. And considering what is already known publicly about the reckless, lawless, and oftentimes criminal behavior of so-called “intelligence” agencies, spy chiefs and establishment politicians like Reid calling for “fake” briefings are probably right to be worried.
The American people, though, should be even more concerned about what is being perpetrated in their names and with their money under the guise of secret “intelligence.”
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About the author
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, politics, and more. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU.
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