Free Republic

For the past several days we have been discussing the Deep State shadow war within the various intelligence agencies.  The larger issues have been building for a long time. CIA Director John Brennan and DNI head James Clapper, both took politicization of intelligence to new levels to accommodate the White House. It is not accidental that both of these names are the primary voices behind the “Russian Hacking Conspiracy“.

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked former Indiana Senator Dan Coats as director of national intelligence, two sources briefed on the decision told Fox News. The official announcement is expected later this week, according to the AP, as Trump makes final decisions on some of the major positions he needs to fill before he is sworn in on Jan. 20. Coats, a Republican, served as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year. He also served as U.S. ambassador to Germany. As director of national intelligence, Coats would oversee an office created after 9/11 to...

It’s a new year. Let’s focus. Especially as a new president takes office, inheriting the awesome responsibility of keeping us safe and secure. Less than two weeks ago, a Tunisian man drove a semi-trailer truck carrying 25 tons of steel into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, killing 12 people and wounding 56 more. Human beings are resourceful, even terrorists — or perhaps, especially terrorists. It’s fortunate that few folks desire to be terrorists. But it is unfortunate that intelligence and police agencies don’t keep a better eye on those whom they already have reason to suspect of involvement...

On Thursday, Donald Trump created controversy when he tweeted, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” In case anyone was confused, he followed up Friday morning with an off-air remark to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that clarified his intentions: “Let it be an arms race,” he said. “We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” The backlash was swift and unanimous. Critics charged that there is no plausible reason to expand U.S. nuclear weapons, that Trump’s comments contradicted a decades-old bipartisan consensus...

As politicians and mainstream media blast Trump's apparently incendiary tweet regarding nuclear arms, none other than President Obama just signed legislation that, by striking a single word from longstanding US nuclear defence policy, could heighten tensions with Russia and China and launch the country on an expensive effort to build space-based defense systems. Oh the irony... Following Trump's tweet... The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016 The mainstream media has lambasted the president-elect for "endangering the...

In light of the deadly truck attack perpetrated by an Islamist terrorist in Germany, Donald Trump is claiming vindication for his "extreme vetting" stance pertaining to refugees seeking to enter America. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken the opposite approach during her tenure at the helm in Berlin, turning her country into the top Western haven for refugees from the war-torn Middle East -- and Syria in particular. She's opened the nation's doors to roughly one million asylum-seekers last year. But following a string of sexual assaults, lethal terrorist attacks and plots, and increased worries of radicalization across Europe, Merkel is starting to...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/adriana_cohen/2016/12/adriana_cohen_lax_vetting_endangers_europe_again?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Just days after President-elect Donald Trump cast doubt on the value of receiving the traditional presidential briefing on a daily basis, his transition team said he is upping the frequency to three times a week from roughly once a week as he moves closer to Inauguration Day. "The president is getting the PDB three times a week right now," said transition communications director Sean Spicer, using the acronym for the presidential daily briefing. "He is meeting with [his national security adviser, retired Lt.] General [Michael] Flynn on a daily basis to get an intel update." Spicer later clarified to ABC...

We’ve reached an odd point in American political discourse when a civilian president-elect can appoint three civilian former members of the military to key positions in his administration (with his cabinet appointees being confirmed by a civilian Senate) and mainstream journalists fret about whether Donald Trump is forming a “junta.” Yet that actually happened yesterday, when Politico’s Julia Ioffe tweeted: “Three generals and maybe a fourth. Can we just cut to the chase and call ourselves a junta?” The New Yorker’s Nicholas Thompson mused on Twitter: “How many generals do you need in government before you technically become a junta?”...

President-elect Donald Trump trumpeted his pick for Defense secretary, Ret. Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis, as he sought to flex his national security muscle hours after President Obama took aim at his successor in a high-profile speech. "We don't want countries taking advantage of us anymore, we don't want that. We want to be the smart people, we don't want to be what we've been over the last long period of time," Trump said during a "thank you" rally in Fayetteville, N.C. "To accomplish our goals, we must reject the failed approaches of the past, we must move past the...

Citing a national security risk, President Barack Obama on Friday blocked a Chinese investor’s proposed takeover of Aixtron SE, a German maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, a rare move that drew objections from Beijing and complaints that the U.S. was injecting politics into the deal. Obama ordered Fujan Grand Chip to “fully and permanently abandon” its proposed acquisition of Aixtron SE’s California-based subsidiary, Aixtron, Inc. The decision upheld a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which reviews foreign purchases of U.S. companies. The decision threatens to jeopardize the larger deal, which is under scrutiny [by] Berlin...

Far away from the chaotic banter of political discourse, a small network of patriots have come together – yet few, if any, will ever elevate their mindset to notice the significance of their assembly. Specifically, this Thanksgiving, we stand thankful for, and raise our glass toward, General James Mattis and General John Kelly. Both have joined ranks with Admiral Mike Rogers (NSA), General Michael Flynn (Nat Sec) and Representative Mike Pompeo (CIA) to unite behind President-Elect Donald Trump and stand the gap after a long 65 year void.

(CNSNews.com) – President-elect Donald Trump has offered the key post of national security adviser former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), the Associated Press reported Thursday, citing an unnamed senior Trump official. Flynn, who served as head of the DIA from 2012 to 2014, has been advising the Trump campaign on national security issues. He is also an outspoken critic of radical Islam and shari’a (Islamic law), and has attracted the ire of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Earlier Thursday, CAIR issued a statement urging Trump not to appoint him “because of his history of...

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, signaling a sharp rightward shift in U.S. security policy as he begins to form his Cabinet. Trump on Friday also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser. A former military intelligence chief, Flynn has accused the Obama administration of being too soft on terrorism and has cast Islam as a "political ideology" and driver of extremism. The selections form the first outlines of Trump's Cabinet and national security teams. Given his lack of governing experience...

Media are reporting that General Michael Flynn is being “offered” the position of National Security Adviser to President-Elect Donald Trump. However, there should be some reasonable caution on this announcement: Almost everyone who supports Donald Trump has also supported Michael Flynn.... HOWEVER, recently, unbeknownst –at least originally– to the to the Trump campaign, General Flynn accepted a lobbying role for the government of Turkey, specifically to advocate for Recep Erdogan and Turkish interests, and presumably never told the campaign.

Full Title: Michael Flynn, Trump's reported pick for national security advisor, sat in on intel briefings — while advising foreign clients Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has reportedly been offered the role of national security adviser in Donald Trump’s White House, began receiving classified national security briefings last summer while he was also running a private consulting firm that offered “all-source intelligence support” to international clients. Flynn’s relationship with his overseas clients is coming in for new scrutiny amid recent disclosures that two months ago, during the height of the presidential campaign, his consulting firm, the Flynn Intel Group,...

Donald Trump offered friend and supporter General Michael Flynn the position of National Security Advisor. Senior Official: Trump has offered General Michael Flynn job as National Security Advisor pic.twitter.com/UUkQL1pKGT — Jared Wyand 🇺🇸 (@JaredWyand) November 18, 2016 General Michael Flynn defended Trump from the constant liberal media attacks. In September General Flynn said with Trump we will actually win the war with radical Islam and ISIS.

WASHINGTON—Another round of staff changes buffeted President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team Tuesday amid resistance from within the Republican Party over a top choice for secretary of state. Vice President-elect Mike Pence formally signed documents that put him in charge of the transition team, and officials insisted the 10-week effort to build an administration is on schedule. In one of his first moves, Mr. Pence ordered the removal of all lobbyists from the transition team, said one transition team member with knowledge of the decisions. Earlier Tuesday, former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, once considered a candidate to lead the Central Intelligence...

AMERICA’S Defcon warning level has been reduced to its safest threat level possible following Donald Trump’s shock presidential election win. The Defcon Warning System, a private organisation which monitors world events and estimates the nuclear threat against America, is now at Level 5 - its lowest possible state. Just weeks ago the warning was accelerated to Level 3 following increased tensions between US and Russia, with insiders fearing the West was creeping closer to nuclear war. Level 3 means US troops could be mobilised in as little as 15 minutes. But the group, made up of experts claiming to have...

It’s no secret that Donald Trump is as much of a blank slate on policy as anyone who’s ever been elected president. Both supporters and opponents of the president-elect agree that Trump is still very malleable on many issues and has a lot to learn about both foreign and domestic policy. This is why it is critical for conservatives to win the ‘battle of personnel’ in the coming days. Failure to land conservative outsiders in key cabinet and advisory roles would be akin to failing to establish control of the beach head during the Normandy invasion. We can dream of...