Thread by @rgoodlaw

A sadly long <thread>

I published this article (with the brilliant @jgeltzer) assessing specific ways in which President Trump has undercut the U.S. intelligence community.

It's important to take a step back, and examine the record.

A 'top 10' list...
justsecurity.org/66035/the-patt…

1. Top of the list:

Trump’s many acts (documented in Mueller Report) trying to impede the criminal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—in pursuit of his own political interests and despite the FBI's efforts to nab Russians.

justsecurity.org/64362/muellers…

2. Helsinki. Trump sided with Putin over US intel agencies

WSJ editorial harshly criticized POTUS under headline, “The Trump First Doctrine.”

“joint press conference was a personal and national embarrassment”
“kowtow to the Kremlin”
“weak and dangerous”
wsj.com/articles/the-t…

3. Trump lambasted intelligence chiefs—Coats, Haspel, Wray—for their honest and reliable testimony on Iran, Russia, North Korea

Trump tweets: they were “wrong!” “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”

Very good report by @PeterAtlantic @wstrobel
wsj.com/articles/trump…

4. Trump attempted to appoint John Ratcliffe—a man with little experience in intelligence but a proven record as political wingman for Trump—to head apolitical Office of Director of National Intelligence.

Recommended read on that saga: @MaxBoot's analysis
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

5. President Trump exposes intelligence products in an impulsive moment boasting to the Russians in the Oval Office about highly sensitive counterterrorism collection capabilities.

justsecurity.org/41046/flagrant…

5th continued:

@ronenbergman reported on the internal reaction within Israel’s intelligence services to Trump's revealing classified information to Russians.👇

nytimes.com/2017/05/18/opi…

6. Trump attempted to declassify large swaths of Russia counterintelligence investigation for political gain.

Subsequent reporting by @joshgerstein (@politico), @Tierney_Megan (@TPM), and others showed how this also undercut the DOJ in FOIA litigation.

politico.com/story/2018/09/…

7. Trump told briefer he believes Putin over the US intelligence community on threat of North Korean missiles.

Former Acting FBI Director Andy McCabe’s book👇

See also McCabe’s interview with @60Minutes's @ScottPelley:

https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1097290081973530624

8. Trump tweet apparently disclosed intelligence info (via overhead image of Iranian launch site) without agencies being given opportunity to consider the trade offs and express their equities.

Best report on this was by @amanda_m_macias @KevinWilliamB

cnbc.com/2019/08/30/tru…

9. After watching Fox & Friends, Trump sent out a tweet raising concerns about a US intelligence surveillance program that was up for reauthorization by Congress. Within 2 hours, Trump reversed himself with a second tweet.

Read @attackerman’s reporting:
thedailybeast.com/president-trum…

10. On first full day as president, Trump made inappropriately political remarks in front of CIA’s hallowed memorial to its fallen, effectively dragging the agency into partisan politics to a degree that discomfited its own personnel.

@RWPUSA's analysis: justsecurity.org/37033/trumps-c…

That's my top ten. Read the full article that @jgeltzer and I published (URL in first tweet). Did we miss any significant examples? Counterexamples?