Despite being a world-class conspiracy theorist, President-elect Donald Trump is not a fan of the CIA, even now as he is about to oversee the agency as president. It’s not totally clear why Trump, who may have never read a book in his life and surely has never had much interaction with the American intelligence infrastructure outside of Jason Bourne, is so anti-CIA from the get-go. The obvious answer is that Trump wants to diminish the credibility of the America’s intelligence agencies before they get the chance to release their findings about Russia’s attempts to sway the presidential election. Such a shortsighted response from Trump, however, wouldn’t explain why, as the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, the Trump administration is not just looking to discredit the intelligence agency, he’s looking to reduce its size.
From the Journal:
… [Trump] is working with top advisers on a plan that would restructure and pare back the nation’s top spy agency, people familiar with the planning said. The move is prompted by his belief that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has become bloated and politicized, these people said… One of the people familiar with Mr. Trump’s planning said advisers also are working on a plan to restructure the Central Intelligence Agency, cutting back on staffing at its Virginia headquarters and pushing more people out into field posts around the world. The CIA declined to comment… Mr. Trump’s advisers say he has long been skeptical of the CIA’s accuracy, and the president-elect often mentions faulty intelligence in 2002 and 2003 concerning Iraq’s weapons programs.
Donald Trump, who famously does not use email or speak a foreign language or apparently travel much outside the Trump-themed hotel circuit, has some ideas. This should end well.
