You are so right. How many people can the president trust right now?
I have seen comments here on FR saying that he should just fire everyone in the intel community and start over. But I am sure it is not that simple.
Like the tweet. That said, Trump seems subdued, almost shell-shocked, no??
Offer a bounty for any and all evidence on those leaking and all the traitors. Let the draining of the swamp begin!
No, firing everyone in the Intelligence Community is not that simple, nor is it the solution. The president has the authority and the means to use the counterintelligence and insider threat capabilities that already exist to ferret out leakers. Starting with the “Big Five” (NSA, CIA, NRO, DIA and NGA) and the State Department, the president orders that every Schedule C appointee (~4,000 of them) and every SES be polygraphed with a focus on counterintelligence and sedition. Sample questions could include:
“Have you or anyone known to you provided sensitive but unclassified, classified or limited distribution information to anyone not entitled or authorized to receive it?”
“Have you or anyone known to you acted in any way, or colluded with anyone, to undermine the US government or any elected official therein?”
I would make it known that a “mole (or leaker) hunt” is about to begin. As soon as that is known, there will be resignations and those who resign, beginning with the most senior, will be the first targets of any investigations. There will be some who remain and think they can defeat the polygraph. In many cases, the leakers/moles who remain will fail the polygraph with a clear “Deception Indicated” (DI) finding and will be fired prior to being investigated. Some will receive an “Inconclusive” polygraph finding, their access will be terminated (they’ll no longer have access to classified systems) pending another polygraph. If they fail a subsequent polygraph, they’re done. If they continue to receive “Inconclusive” findings, they are likely to resign.
By limiting the number of questions and focusing them on specific counterintelligence- and sedition-related topics, the polygraphs can be done relatively quickly, i.e., in a matter of weeks, but the impact will be immediate.