THREAD: From my latest in @WIRED, today is the last day in office for @ODNIgov Dan Coats and PDDNI Sue Gordon. Tomorrow, the U.S. will have an acting DNI and PDDNI, both critical roles for U.S. intel—hardly the only vacancies in our national security.... wired.com/story/trump-na…
2) Buckle up: Over the coming weeks, with the scheduled Joint Chiefs turnover, the new SecDef and Dep SecDef, the *vast* majority of the nation's military and 17 (!) intelligence agencies will have either an acting leader, a new leader, or no leader at all....
3) That's a recipe for a costly geopolitical mistake or error. Leaders make mistakes when they’re new and learning on the job. Things slip the cracks, nuances get lost, details get overlooked, procedures are forgotten....
4) At @DHSGov, we’re months into a power vacuum of an Acting Secretary—the 3rd DHS leader in less than three years of Trump—with no confirmed Dep Sec, an acting Chief of Staff, acting Under Sec for Management, an acting CFO, ...
5) .... no Under Sec for Sci & Tech (and no Dep Under Sec!), no Under Sec for Strategy, Policy, and Plans, an acting head of public affairs, no Chief Privacy Officer, an acting @CBP commissioner, an acting @ICEGov director, the oddly appointed acting director of @USCIS, ....
6) .... and an acting @FEMA director, *even* as the country is in the midst of hurricane season. Overall, fewer than half of DHS’ top roles have permanent leaders ....
7) At the Pentagon, there's a new Sec Def, new Dep @SecDef, and an acting Air Force Secretary. ...
8) At DOJ, also on its third leader of the Trump era, there’s no nominee for its No. 3 role, associate AG, vacant since Feb. There’s no Admin or Dep Admin of @DEAHW—another of the nation’s intel agencies—and, ....
9) ... amid a particularly horrifying outbreak of gun violence, there’s been no leader of the ATF for *years*. Lastly, it's worth pointing out, there is no confirmed head of the Bureau of Prisons, a vacuum amid the crisis of Jeffrey Epstein's prison death. / END
PS: This doesn't even count vacancies at places at the State Department or other key roles, like "acting" White House Chief of Staff, nor does it even fully capture the turmoil inside @dhsgov. For all that, read my @WIRED column: wired.com/story/trump-na…
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