Biden faces repair job at U.S. spy agencies after tumult under Trump
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[November 13, 2020]
By Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shortly after
comparing U.S. intelligence agencies to Nazis, Donald Trump tried to
mend fences on his first full day as president.
On Jan. 21, 2017, standing before a marble wall at CIA headquarters
honoring officers who died in service, Trump pledged "so much backing"
before delivering a campaign-style speech inflating his inauguration
attendance and attacking the "dishonest media."
His use of the memorial as a prop marked the start of a stormy
relationship with his spy services in which Trump denigrated their
leaders, rejected their findings, appointed loyalists to replace top
officials who disagreed with him and condoned using government secrets
to attack political opponents.
Now, President-elect Joe Biden and his picks to lead the spy agencies
must fix the damage: rebuilding both trust and morale within the
agencies and their relations with Congress and the White House, said
current and former U.S. officials.
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"The problems we have with intelligence were a function of Donald
Trump's demands that the intelligence serves his political interests,"
said Peter Welch, a Democrat on the House of Representatives'
intelligence committee.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Top Republican senators on Thursday called for Biden to begin receiving
intelligence briefings, but Trump's refusal to concede defeat is holding
up that transition practice.
If the delay lasts more than a month, "then we have to worry" about the
impact on national security, said Lawrence Pfeiffer, chief of staff to
former CIA Director Michael Hayden. Biden has years of experience
working with the intelligence agencies as vice president to President
Barack Obama and as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member and
chairman.
Officials and experts recommend Biden tap as his intelligence chiefs
veterans with standing in the community. Sources told Reuters that
former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell is a leading contender to
replace CIA chief Gina Haspel or John Ratcliffe as director of national
intelligence, the overseer of the 17 U.S. agencies.
Biden, they said, should visit those organizations in his first week to
address the workforces.
Marc Polymeropoulos, a former undercover CIA officer, said Biden should
tell them: "'I have faith in the intelligence community. There is no
deep state, period. We value what you do.’"
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WATCHDOGS AND WHISTLEBLOWERS
Another step would be restoring internal watchdog and whistleblower
programs that Trump and his allies upended, said Mike Quigley, another
Democrat on the House intelligence committee. "That would give a boost
to morale."
And by reaffirming support for NATO and other alliances that Trump has
shaken, Biden would reassure allies that intelligence they share would
not be misused, he said.
Finally, Biden should let it be known that he will take the daily
intelligence briefing that Trump disdained, Quigley said.
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![](../images/111320PIX/news_e9.jpg)
Former CIA acting director Michael Morell speaks during a forum on
election security titled, “2020 Vision: Intelligence and the U.S.
Presidential Election” at the National Press Club in Washington,
U.S., October 30, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Biden's transition team declined to discuss his spy agency plans.
Trump frequently clashed with his agencies, including publicly
accepting Russian President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Moscow
did not interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump, contradicting
a U.S. intelligence finding.
By this year, he had replaced key intelligence officials with
loyalists, including Ratcliffe, a former congressman who defended
Trump during his impeachment.
As the Nov. 3 election neared, Ratcliffe faced charges by Democrats
and former intelligence officials of politicizing intelligence after
releasing to a Republican senator probing Biden's son Russian
intelligence that was unverified and possibly fabricated.
Democratic and Republican intelligence sources said Ratcliffe has
spent much of his stint selectively declassifying material helpful
to Trump’s re-election, provoking fears he may have exposed the
means by which U.S. spies collect information.
Some officials fear Ratcliffe and other Trump appointees may release
more politically-skewed material.
The CIA has been resisting pressure, congressional and intelligence
sources said, to declassify a Republican congressional memo that
used ultra-secret materials to argue that Russia favored Hillary
Clinton - rather than Trump - in the 2016 election.
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Asked to respond to the politicization allegations, Ratcliffe's
office pointed to a spokeswoman's Oct. 17 statement that said:
"Those who are being critical of his declassification decisions
don’t have visibility into these documents or the stringent process
ODNI uses to protect sources and methods.”
As for Haspel, a White House adviser said Trump has made clear to
aides that he has considered firing the first female CIA chief, who
earned his wrath for disputing his views on North Korea.
Biden and his intelligence chiefs face a harder time regaining trust
among the more than 70 million Americans who voted for Trump,
current and former officials say.
"It will be difficult returning intelligence to its proper
under-the-radar role at a time when many on Capitol Hill and in the
country believe it has been politicized, either by or against the
Trump administration," said Thomas Fingar, a former chief U.S.
intelligence analyst.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball; Additional
reporting by Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary
Milliken and Grant McCool)
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