Putin vs. US Intelligence: Daily Beast

The US budget devotes more than $80 billion on intelligence-gathering, representing more than 10 percent of the US defense budget, with many expenditures and details classified. Yet the US president has suggested that he does not hold much stock in US intelligence assessments. Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe offered a new example as shared by a colleague, during an interview on the television show 60 Minutes: “Essentially, the president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not.” Staff advised Donald Trump that such an opinon was not consistent with US intelligence suggesting that North Korean missiles could strike the United States. Trump responded, “I don't care. I believe Putin.” McCabe admitted he was shocked about the time and work devoted to intelligence gathering, only “to be confronted with an absolute disbelief in those efforts and an unwillingness to learn the true state of affairs.” In January, US intelligence directors delivered a threat assessment to Congressional representatives. Afterward, Trump described intelligence staff as “passive and naïve” and suggested “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school.” Special counsel Robert Mueller continues to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. – YaleGlobal

Putin vs. US Intelligence: Daily Beast

Former FBI acting director claims Trump trusted Putin on North Korean missile capabilities – that missiles could not reach the US – and not US intelligence
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Read the article from the Daily Beast about an interview with author and former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

Read about Intelligence Community Spending: Trends and Issues from the US Congressional Research Service: Intelligence spending spans many other departments, too, ranging from the departments of energy to treasury and state. “[I]ntelligence-related spending has remained relatively constant over the past decade, representing approximately 11% of the total defense budget,” the report notes. “Most intelligence dollars are embedded in the defense budget for security purposes. All but the topline budget numbers are classified.” The report mentions that some analysts speculate that the United States spends more on intelligence than all other countries combined.

Read more about US intelligence budgets from the Federation of American Scientists.

Read an article from Voice of America about the US president’s criticism of his intelligence directors after they offered a Worldwide Threat Assessment to Congress. That assessment suggested that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is not ready to give up his nuclear ambitions.

Listen to the 60 Minutes interview with Andrew McCabe.

Read about the book “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump” by Andrew McCabe.

“What I saw in my experiences particularly in the last two years with the repeated attacks not just on me  personally, but on the FBI, on the intelligence community, is this persistent, corrosive effect of undermining the very institutions that we rely on to preserve this country as a free and fair democracy - and the fact that doesn’t seem to be foremost  in most people’s minds is something that troubles me greatly and it’s one of the reasons I wrote the book.”  - Andrew McCabe talking about his book, February 20, 2019

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Related Links: 

New York Times: Humiliation in Helsinki

New York Times: Summary of US Russia Investigation

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