Opinion:What CIA officers thought of the presidents they briefed
Opinion: What CIA officers thought of the presidents they briefed
By David Ignatius, Columnist
Yesterday at 6:40 p.m. EST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/02/how-presidents-look-cia-officers-who-brief-them/
"SNIP.......
CIA briefers rarely get to assess the political leaders they serve. But the agency has just published the latest installment of an unusual “kiss-and-tell” series titled “Getting to Know the President” — and it contains some zingers about how top politicians behaved inside the veil of secrecy.
The “breaking news” in this internal history inevitably centers on the bombastic Donald Trump, described as a “unique challenge” who “doubted the competence of intelligence professionals and felt no need for regular intelligence support.” He was briefed two to three times a week, far less than his recent predecessors.
When Trump was given the prized “President’s Daily Brief,” containing all the espionage goodies, he merely “touched it. He doesn’t really read anything,” confided his main briefer, a career CIA analyst named Ted Gistaro. Trump was “‘fact free’ — evidence doesn’t cut it with him,” explained former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper.
John L. Helgerson, the study’s author and a career intelligence officer, served as CIA inspector general from 2002 until his retirement in 2009. The CIA history surveys intelligence briefings for presidential and vice-presidential candidates back to 1952. It was published internally in October by the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence and then declassified.
........SNIP"
= new reply since forum marked as read
