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REPORT: Intel Officials Are Withholding Sensitive Information From POTUS Trump
Mediaite.com ^ | 9:21 pm, February 15th, 2017 | Josh Feldman

Posted on 02/15/2017 7:22:56 PM PST by drewh

A new report in The Wall Street Journal tonight says that U.S. intelligence officials have “withheld” information from President Trump.

Why? Well…

U.S. intelligence officials have withheld sensitive intelligence from President Donald Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter…

In some of these cases of withheld information, officials have decided not to show Mr. Trump the sources and methods that the intelligence agencies use to collect information, the current and former officials said. Those sources and methods could include, for instance, the means that an agency uses to spy on a foreign government.

There has been a lot of reported tension between Trump and many in the intel community, and the president himself has repeatedly slammed the leaks to the press this week.

One White House official told WSJ, “There is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening.”

The anonymous officials who spoke to the paper made it clear Trump has been kept from “crucial information about security threats or potential plotting,” but there’s still that concern:

Intelligence officials have in the past not told a president or members of Congress about the ins and outs of how they ply their trade. At times, they have decided that secrecy is essential for protecting a source, and that all a president needs to know is what that source revealed and what the intelligence community thinks is important about it.

But in these previous cases in which information was withheld, the decision wasn’t motivated by a concern about a president’s trustworthiness or discretion, the current and former officials said.

This report comes on the heels of a report in the Observer days ago by John Schindler headlined “The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins.”

And in that report, Schindler wrote the following:

[O]ut of worries about the White House’s ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office. Why risk your most sensitive information if the president may ignore it anyway? A senior National Security Agency official explained that NSA was systematically holding back some of the “good stuff” from the White House, in an unprecedented move. For decades, NSA has prepared special reports for the president’s eyes only, containing enormously sensitive intelligence. In the last three weeks, however, NSA has ceased doing this, fearing Trump and his staff cannot keep their best SIGINT secrets.

Since NSA provides something like 80 percent of the actionable intelligence in our government, what’s being kept from the White House may be very significant indeed. However, such concerns are widely shared across the IC, and NSA doesn’t appear to be the only agency withholding intelligence from the administration out of security fears.

What’s going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that “since January 20, we’ve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM,” meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. “There’s not much the Russians don’t know at this point,” the official added in wry frustration.

You can read the full WSJ report here.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: sedition
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1 posted on 02/15/2017 7:22:56 PM PST by drewh
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To: drewh

Time for some pink slips. Treason against the United States is a firing offense.


2 posted on 02/15/2017 7:24:35 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (As long as tyranny exists, the Constitution and Bill of Right will never be "outdated" or "obsolete")
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To: drewh

in case you dont get the narrative.....

dnc/obama/hillary ops within deep govt are attempting to make trump out to be more of a security issue than hillary.

this will be their phony basis for any attempted impeachment move.


3 posted on 02/15/2017 7:24:58 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: drewh

But it was OK for a Muslim seditionist like Little Barry to have carte blanche access to our secrets.


4 posted on 02/15/2017 7:25:49 PM PST by kiryandil (Will Hillary's BrownShirt Media thugs demand that The Deplorables all wear six-pointed Orange Stars?)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

So far, the only people I’ve seen leaking classified and sensitive information are in the “intelligence communities”. Since Obama’s spies and moles say they aren’t briefing President Trump, they can’t accuse him of anything.


5 posted on 02/15/2017 7:27:00 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (As long as tyranny exists, the Constitution and Bill of Right will never be "outdated" or "obsolete")
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To: drewh

That’s rich considering it’s the intelligence agencies leaking the information.

Who tapped those calls? Wasn’t it the NSA?

Where did the info wind up? It wound up at the NYT.


6 posted on 02/15/2017 7:27:15 PM PST by DoughtyOne (NeverTrump, a movement that was revealed to be a movement. Thank heaven we flushed!)
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To: drewh

I want this mowed like grass. These bastards are traitors to be executed!! This will absolutely NOT be tolerate. I want them exited at gun point. We have the power. This is the hour!!


7 posted on 02/15/2017 7:28:05 PM PST by WENDLE (Trump RULES IMMIGRATION!! Sanctuary crap will STOP or no money. ZERO!!)
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To: drewh

Trump is the CSO. Turn it over now.


8 posted on 02/15/2017 7:28:32 PM PST by nonsporting
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To: FlingWingFlyer
Time for some pink slips arrests and indictments. Treason against the United States is a firing capital offense.

Fixed it.

9 posted on 02/15/2017 7:29:16 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (President Trump is coming, and the rule of law is coming with him.)
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To: drewh

well practiced at You’re Fired!!


10 posted on 02/15/2017 7:29:30 PM PST by drypowder
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Time for a GRAND JURY, a trail and JAIL for these morons, who are staging a coup!


11 posted on 02/15/2017 7:29:40 PM PST by nopardons
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To: drewh

“[O]ut of worries about the White House’s ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office.”

Meanwhile these same spy agencies are leaking secret information to the press daily.


12 posted on 02/15/2017 7:29:43 PM PST by Soul of the South
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To: drewh

The left has gone nuclear. This could get ugly...


13 posted on 02/15/2017 7:29:43 PM PST by Panhandle.deporable
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Thanks! ;)


14 posted on 02/15/2017 7:30:06 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (As long as tyranny exists, the Constitution and Bill of Right will never be "outdated" or "obsolete")
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To: drewh

America’s KGB created by Obama


15 posted on 02/15/2017 7:30:16 PM PST by butlerweave
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To: drewh

The swamp is deep, Trump needs to get some smart people onboard to counteract this bs.


16 posted on 02/15/2017 7:30:58 PM PST by jimwatx
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To: drewh

Odd article. I wonder why the Intel community is so concerned about Trump and his administration? The intel community is leaking to the media like a sieve.


17 posted on 02/15/2017 7:31:08 PM PST by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
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To: WENDLE

“WE” don’t have ANY power at all. So sadly, “WE” can’t do a damned thing.


18 posted on 02/15/2017 7:31:34 PM PST by nopardons
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To: drewh

Right. They leaked the story about Flynn but _they’re_ worried Trump will spill classified information.


19 posted on 02/15/2017 7:31:42 PM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Panhandle.deporable
"...could get..."?

This is THE most UGLY thing, in politics, that has EVER been, in the entire history of this nation!

20 posted on 02/15/2017 7:33:07 PM PST by nopardons
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