Trump is single-handedly destroying its own Intelligence Apparatus: dangerous times ahead

President Trump is destructive for the current US Intelligence Apparatus in place.

Since 9/11 the United States (mainly under supervision of Keith Alexander) has build an incredibly strong army of intelligence officers. The NSA turned out to be stronger than anyone ever expected it to be. (Edward Snowden showed this to us)

I’m not going to discuss the ethics surrounding an apparatus basically being able to collect and store all signals available to it. (Even though storing and collecting doesn’t necessarily mean actionable intelligence.) The apparatus undeniably turned out to be unprecedented!

I’m going to discus the problems on the floor right now. Some things should be noted: an Intelligence Officers earns a good salary, above average. But the main driving factors for an Intelligence Officer is patriotism, curiosity, learning and seeing things no other will and intellectual challenges: solving the puzzle. The officer sometimes gets challenged till extreme levels and their job carries extreme responsibility. If you have a President that basically laughs and ridicules your carefully crafted reports… Motivation level will drop to zero.

Working at the NSA provides you with a learning environment no one else will be able to. You’ll be fighting on the frontline, in the heat of the battle, a place where your learning curve will be the sharpest. It will challenge you to become the best of the best. It will take you to the next level.

Being ridiculed by your president will take away all your motivation. Seeing your commercial friends earning sometimes double the amount you do, will make some of these intelligence officers vulnerable. Vulnerable for the wrong side.

A side that lures you, pays you more and a side that does value your competences, capabilities and treats you with the respect you deserve. In times people are weak they will fall for these traps. And it is exactly these Intelligence Officers that President Trump is making vulnerable and weak. The knowledge and power these people posses makes this a very dangerous situation for the intelligence community that has emerged after 9/11.

The US has build an incredibly capable apparatus, but Trump is weakening its foundation with a wrecking ball. I don’t think The Shadow Brokers are alone these days. Trump has made all Intelligence Officers a little bit extra vulnerable, I think it’s just a matter of time for the next Intelligence Officer to fall for the ‘trap’ of the wrong side.

Keep in mind there’s always a change of an officer being mentally unstable. This could be due to the home situation, a divorce or anything you can imagine. Add that up the an environment where you spend most of your daytime hours, an environment that is being ridiculed in public, think again. This is dangerous.