Outsider Picks by Trump Could Give US Intelligence a Jolt
William Gallo and Jeff Seldin, Voice of America
President-elect Donald Trump's first selections for key national security posts may say little about his foreign policy vision, but they do seem to emphasize a commitment to take the country's intelligence agencies out of their comfort zone.
Trump on Friday announced his intention to nominate Mike Pompeo, a Republican congressman from Kansas, to lead the CIA, and his selection of retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.
Pompeo, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, quickly received praise from veteran lawmakers and members of the U.S. intelligence community for his serious and nuanced approach.
Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), has been more controversial, chastised by critics for his abrasive management style as well as for his outspoken views on fighting Islamic militants.
Both Outsiders
But one thing the men have in common is that while they are familiar to U.S. intelligence agencies, they are, in a sense, outsiders.
Unlike current CIA Director John Brennan, who began his career with the agency, Pompeo's only intelligence experience comes from his service on the House Intelligence Committee.
Flynn, though a known quantity in intelligence circles, was reportedly pushed out as director of the DIA, in part because of clashes with other U.S. intelligence officials.
Such appointments would seem to support early talk from those close to the Trump transition team about changing the approach at the U.S. intelligence agencies while at the same time reinvigorating them after years of stagnation.
"You're going to see innovation return," said Tony Shaffer, a retired intelligence officer who worked with Flynn.
"A lot of what I've seen in the Obama White House is akin to doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result," said Shaffer, now vice president of Strategic Initiatives and Operations at the London Center for Policy Research. "There's a lot of passion. People are excited about trying to roll in and do some good things."
Comfort Zones
Juan Zarate, who served as a deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism under President George W. Bush, called Pompeo and Flynn "serious national security professionals," but cautioned each would most likely face challenges in his new role.
"Probably a good idea for any transition into any department or agency is to be conscious that every department and agency has its own culture, its own rhythm, its own history," Zarate said, adding that this will be especially important for Pompeo as he prepares to take the reins at CIA, pending eventual confirmation in the U.S. Senate,
"He's obviously going to have to be attentive to that and do some look-backs to make sure he doesn't misstep the way others have," he said.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden offered a similar sentiment.
"Not that the congressman's asked me for any advice, but when you go to Langley [CIA headquarters] for the first time, get out of the car alone," Hayden said Friday during a discussion at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. "Don't bring your own ecosystem. Go into the agency and embrace the agency."
Hayden said Flynn, whom he described as hardworking and bright, would also be forced to make some key adjustments.
"Most of his life experience has been at the tactical level, where he has been incredibly successful, so I think this job is going to extend him," he said. "It's going to demand he up his game to be more broadly strategic."
Unlike Pompeo's position, Flynn's appointment does not require Senate confirmation.
No Foreign Policy Preview
It's not clear what, if anything, the appointments indicate about Trump's foreign policy priorities.
"It doesn't, and it shouldn't," said James Woolsey, a former CIA chief who has endorsed Trump and serves as one of his advisers.
Neither appointee, according to Woolsey, will be in a position to create policy.
"If you get involved in advising on policy, your colleagues in State, Defense, and elsewhere will think you are spinning intelligence in order to support the policies you favor," he said.
Still, it appears that both Flynn and Pompeo may challenge what have become institutional norms when it comes to their approach on the war against Islamic extremists.
Obama Critic
Since retiring from the military, Flynn, 57, has been a harsh critic of President Barack Obama's strategy in fighting the Islamic State terrorist group, and his criticism has often crossed the line into denigrating Islam and Muslims.
The former three-star general has referred to Islam as a cancer. He has called it a "political ideology," rather than a religion. In a tweet from February, he said: "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL."
As CIA chief, Pompeo, 52, also appears set to challenge the status quo. He supports the CIA's now-suspended "enhanced interrogation program," which included waterboarding and other methods many say amounted to torture.
Those involved in the CIA interrogation program "are not torturers, they are patriots," Pompeo said in 2014, adding that the programs were "within the law, within the Constitution and conducted with the full knowledge" of appropriate lawmakers.
Pompeo, a graduate of Harvard Law School and the U.S. Military Academy, also drew criticism in 2013 after he suggested Muslim leaders who didn't publicly condemn terror attacks were "potentially complicit" in the attacks.
Trump's transition team on Friday defended both men as capable and experienced.
"Flynn is widely regarded as one of the most respected generals and intelligence officers of his generation," said Jason Miller, Trump's transition communications director. "I don't think there are many people who have a deeper understanding of the capabilities of the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus."
Miller declined to comment on Pompeo's views on torture, saying he had not yet discussed the issue with him.
Comments
cammo99...pay really close attention to this article as the source is not noted for false information and bad sources of information since Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
Russian pundit is certain close aides of Putin & Trump talking for over year. Says Constitution, laws to change too
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2016/11/putin-and-trump-team-have-…
Actually a number of their articles from Russian sources have been literally spot on....especially on Putin
cammo99...just a short lesson in the history of DIA....DIA was established to provide the DoD and the SecDef their own strategic intel analysis AFTER the Bay of Pigs disaster as a counter balance to what DoD felt CIA was not providing to DoD...KEY here.... strategic national level threat collection and analysis...DIA has never been a shooter focused tactical level intel organization as long as it has existed AND that is WHAT Flynn was trying to turn it into.....
BTW..DIA outperformed and ran circles around CIA during the Cold War and the DoD relied heavily on them vs the CIA....BUT as with ALL US intel orgs ie CIA..."lost their focus" when the Cold War ended and they simply did not track AQ and the Salafist/Takfirist movements as closely AS they all should have done and the intel sharing was a massive failure also during that time up to 9/11.
NOW jump forward to these two articles on the "firing" of Flynn AND then compare them to an interview done for the New York Post that was circulated widely during the campaign ...used both against Obama and therefore against Clinton by my last count on over 221 right wing "so called social media news sites" and right wing talk radio stations.....
IF you are familiar with "disinformation" and how it is used to recreate a past event with a new "truth"...functions actually like money laundering...THUS leading to what many have called after the last two years of massive Russian propaganda as the era of "Post Truth".....meaning "lies are truths"..... AND "truths are just another set of new lies"....so the "narrative" changes to what you want the "narrative" to be.......using the standard Russian 6Ds of propaganda.
In this case Flynn...highly capable....great intel officer......ruffles feathers.....gets things done.
BUT not a single word is spoken on his firing and the reasons why...WHY is that?????
FROM 2014.
Critics said that his management style could be chaotic and that the scope of his plans met resistance from both superiors and subordinates. At the same time, his tenure was marked by significant turbulence, including the fallout from the classified intelligence files leaked by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, as well as other emerging crises.
“His vision in DIA was seen as disruptive,” said a former Pentagon official who worked closely with Flynn. At the DIA, Flynn sought to push DIA analysts and operators “up and out of their cubicles into the field to support war fighters or high-intensity operations,” the former official said. “I’m not sure DIA sees itself as that.”
FROM 2014
Flynn clashed with other high-ranking officials, including Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael G. Vickers. Officials said Flynn had opposed Vickers’ efforts to make significant cuts to large intelligence centers established to support the U.S. military’s regional overseas commands. A former CIA operative, Vickers has sought to model the DIA’s training and overseas presence more closely on its civilian counterpart, according to current and former U.S. officials.
NOTE...I knew Vickers....highly qualified to critique Flynn even if a political appointee...
The plan has encountered significant opposition on Capitol Hill, particularly from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have voiced concern over the cost of creating the Defense Clandestine Service, and questioned whether Pentagon spies would end up being used to fill intelligence gaps that are supposed to be handled by the CIA.
BTW...this was the crunch point actually as the DCS was a formal DoD Humint spy org and would have automatically clashed with overseas CIA activities and in direct violation of the DIA Collection Charter .....AND it was costing MILLIONS just to get setup...some stated it was a money making deal for defense contractors and certain GS types who got great promotions along the way....
Flynn’s departure, which has been rumored for weeks, was set in motion earlier this year when Clapper informed him that the administration had concluded that a leadership change was necessary, officials said. Others described it as a mutual agreement that Flynn would step down.
SOMETIME in 2016
http://www.angrypatriotmovement.com/why-obama-fired-gen-flynn/
Gen. Michael Flynn Reveals THIS is Why Obama Fired Him, This is INSANE!!
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn just lobbed a shocking accusation at President Barack Obama. If the reasons behind his firing are true, Obama just violated multiple federal statutes and broke the public trust in an irreparable way.
HIGHLY suggest you read this angry patriot article and then compare Flynn's comments in the NYP article to the actual articles published right after his firing in 2014.....
MASSIVE world of difference....
PERFECT example of disinformation hard at work changing the real narrative to one that fits what Flynn wants it to fit....
We are into now the "Post Truth era"....where fact checking is out and lying like crazy is now "in"...
cammo999
If you really believe what you just wrote then I truly have a bridge in the middle of the desert in KSA to sell you.
Go to my rant on the Trump FP thread and maybe if you fully understand that rant then you might just just maybe you might reconsider what your wrote....
I seriously doubt if you and or Flynn have ever looked a jihadist in the eye and asked him exactly why he was trying to kill US soldiers and even me a civilian....the answer might in fact surprise you...."you invaded my country" across the board and yes even from AQI members.....I have and repeatedly...I lived in a prison camp called Abu G with over 7K so called jihadists and we had another 7K AND guess what maybe at most 1.5K were in fact jihadists the rest in the wrong place and wrong time that we turned into jihadists by our treatment of them.
Abu G was rated as one of the premier jihadi training centers along with Bucca ...premier jihadi training camps on three square meals furnished by the Army... free TV and free medical care....
Come on so me any example of Sharia law being practiced in a court of US law anywhere in the US....show me that not a single Muslim has not cooperated with the FBI in pointing out those that were drifting into radical rhetoric...countless times but never reported by the FBI....
Accept that Flynn got fired...simply fired for poor management performance as he was a civil servant of you and me...and yes they can be fired for cause....accept that he has tweeted out a anti Semitic tweet and then only then apologized when he was caught doing it....
You really do need to thoroughly understand Islam and spend some time in the ME...and then tell me Islam is a radical flaming socialist conspiracy to overthrow the West..
Do I need to point out that the Catholics and Protestants killed themselves and anyone of those religions in Europe for over 140 years with beheading being a favorite tool to punish those opposing them....
It took over 1500 hundred years for them to figure it out...Islam has another 350 years to match that 1500 years....
Flynn is criticized because he recognizes the fact Islam is not simply a religion, it is theocratic to its core. Anyone who has attempted to discuss the Kingdom and the role of the King as the "ruler" moderator of Mecca with Saudis quickly becomes aware of the dichotomy raising the question if Islam is more politics than religion. The fact is you can not even discuss this aspect in strict Islamic circles.
Flynn is astute enough to put the facts ahead of the religious politics coming out of the Middle East and finding expressions in extremism.
And, he is specific in his book, he will focus on Iran as America's greater threat.
Trump has already announced he will undo "Obama's deal".
Europe is moving towards an era of "submission" to pacify their "immigrant" or colonizing settlers population. No one has considered this as a basis for strengthening ties with Russia and at least trying to undermine its support of Iran which is in both our countries interests, and maybe get Russia to stop flooding the region with arms.
Sharia law seems to be a comfortable fit for socialist/globalists, but it turns our American democratic republic progressive institutions on their head.
We seem readily willing to accept separation of church and state but unable to discuss the fact of Islam; Mosque is state.
I am a Christian living in an open society with protected rights and despite claims America is a Christian nation, it is without a state religion, last week the Imams came up with a compromise for the administration of the Kotel, Jews will attend the Mosque and receive their religious orientation for being Jews from the Koran!
I will never submit to being told what my Christianity is and how I may express it by an Imam. Any more than I do from "commissars" That might work for the Obama administration and the profiteers of mega Mosques in Baltimore and NYC, but the Trump shift gives me hope our democratic freedoms will be preserved and my right to practice my faith freely.
Trump has announced a number of measures that are progressive not submissive, I hope he will keep his word to support the Bill that declares the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.
Flynn's credentials are well documented.
CIA director Pompeo is not being well defined.
He was a tank platoon leader on the German border in Cold War.
A West Point Grad, he was a successful businessman and swept into his Congressional seat with the Tea Party. He has been critical of Hillary's handling of Benghazi, he believes Snowden should get the death penalty, and he also favors the use of "torture".
He took the floor in the house after the Boston Bombing, calling on Muslim leaders to denounce terrorism in the name of Islam, for which he was severely criticized by the other side of the aisle.
Last year when a Mosque in his district announced it was permitting a member of Hamas, a terrorist group, to speak, on Good Friday, he took steps that lead to the cancellation of the event.
He was an early supporter of Marco Rubio's bid.
He also urged Kerry to include Christians as victims of Islamic State genocide, a fact Kerry/Obama chose to omit.
No wonder there is so much angst on the streets being generated to oppose Trump when he is making appointments that uphold pro-American values, appointments that represent a hold pattern for the aspirations of turning America into a sharia compliant socialist dead pool in the name of globalism, sic.
Herein lies the core problem for anyone associated with the so called drive to create faster and better intelligence...
"Flynn is widely regarded as one of the most respected generals and intelligence officers of his generation," said Jason Miller, Trump's transition communications director. "I don't think there are many people who have a deeper understanding of the capabilities of the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus.
BTW...Flynn's single point of failure is that he drove JSOC tactical targeting intelligence NOT national level strategic intelligence analysis against perceived US threats near and far....THERE he failed and failed badly...RIGHT now the entire IC is being flooded virtually flooded with information...the problem lies within the analysts that do the work on that data flood and no one wants to talk about that....and no magical Flynn will correct that problem in the next 10 years...besides the NSA drives strategic thinking and what IF he just keeps on rejecting what the IC provides him as we saw in just how Trump refused to accept the IC analysis of the Russian hacking treats against the US AND FLYNN sat in on those briefings...BTW yelling at the time if we hear the pundits correctly ...yelling at the intel briefers as he did not apparently like what he heard...OR did we forget that incident????
AND for some strange reason the entire world wants to forget his failed and failed badly attempt at reforming DIA which is what he claimed he wanted to do...so we give failure second chance..to WHAT fail again..????
BTW...do not think Miller seems to be telling quiet the truth when he claims what he claims about Flynn being one of the most respected intel officers of his time..hype.....nothing but hype as that is not the opinion of those that worked with and around him in DIA nor the rest of the IC...
It is amazing just how the power of myths carries one these days inside the DC Beltway.....especially when you generate your own myths....
Amazing how the "truth becomes lies and the lies become truth" these days in the new era of "Post Truth"...
BUT WAIT...Flynn's motto is "truth always answers questions"???? THAT is until he was questioned by his trips to Moscow and how much he received for those trips and who paid for it...surprisingly he failed to provide any answers...."truth to questions...right"?????