President Donald Trump alienated the intelligence community when he referred to top intelligence officials as “naive”, “Passive” and “weak”.
Trump’s latest outburst comes a day after members of his own national security team contradicted some of his biggest policy claims.
According to Bloomberg.com, President Trump said US intelligence agency leaders should “go back to school” after he tweeted that Iran is still testing rockets.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday:
“The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but… ….a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”
The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
….a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
His tweets did not sit well with members of intelligence agencies, who might consider retaliating by leaking secrets to the anti-Trump media.
Trump’s top spy chief told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that North Korea and the Islamic State remain threats to the United States, despite the President’s claims that he made great progress in getting Kim Jong Un to disarm his nuclear weapons and destroy rocket launching pads.
US Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) defended intelligence officials on Wednesday, tweeting: “it is a credit to our intelligence agencies that they continue to provide rigorous and realistic analyses of the threats we face. It’s deeply dangerous that the White House isn’t listening.”
And Senator Mark Warner warned Trump to tiptoe carefully when discussing intelligence officials who keep the country safe from our enemies.
Warner tweeted that “the President has a dangerous habit of undermining the intelligence community to fit his alternate reality. People risk their lives for the intelligence he just tosses aside on Twitter.”
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
