![]() ![]() And by the following January - two weeks before the inauguration and after weeks of his taking aim at U.S. Accuses Russia Of Election Year Cyber-Meddling And intelligence officials were already privately telling reporters, including me, that it was the Kremlin that hacked the servers of the DNC. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?" he said.īut by then, candidate Trump was already receiving classified intelligence briefings. "I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. "I don't think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC," then-candidate Donald Trump said, referring to the Democratic National Committee. 26, 2016, during the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. This story of mistrust could have started a dozen different places. Now, former intelligence chiefs warn that the president's suspicion of his spy agencies could pose a danger to U.S. Over the course of his presidency, a number of notable events have strained that relationship further. But the relationship has been tense since even before Trump took office. The current impeachment drama highlights the tension between Trump and the U.S. "It did not surprise me that ultimately an intelligence officer was the person who was going to blow the whistle on what the president did," says Leon Panetta, who was director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011 under President Barack Obama. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.Politics Trump Impeachment Inquiry: A Guide To Key People, Facts And Documents ![]() But two of the intelligence officials I reached told me, watch this space. And the question that is unfolding in intelligence circles is, if economic pressure doesn't work, what else might happen? Are you talking overt force, covert action? That's a hypothetical question at this point. KELLY: Well, the president threatened economic pressure. What role might CIA agents play in Pakistan? He says he won't tolerate Pakistan providing a safe haven to the Taliban and other groups. SHAPIRO: President Trump talks about taking a regional approach. As troop levels have come down in those places in recent years, American spies on the ground have a greater risk. ![]() ![]() Spies rely on the military for security, and this has been a challenge for the CIA in Afghanistan - also in Iraq, by the way. military on the ground will give spies there more cover to run their intelligence operations. One other point worth noting - this is a two-way street. But it is certainly reasonable, Ari, to assume that if demand for intelligence is going up, then you will need more resources to meet that demand. KELLY: A lot of details not clear as always in the world of the CIA. SHAPIRO: If the CIA role does grow, what do we necessarily know about it? And intelligence work is all about finding. One of the officials I reached to, Mike Morell, who ran the CIA as acting director - he actually reminded me of something another CIA former director, Mike Hayden, once said, which is that in counterterrorism, the enemy is easy to kill, hard to find. KELLY: Could well be talking about drones, could be talking about paramilitary operations, talking a more intense version of what the CIA is already doing there. SHAPIRO: What would a larger CIA role look like? I mean are we talking about drones, boots on the ground, bases? What would it be? They all four said they can see the CIA role growing if the focus going forward is in fact going to be counterterrorism. What I am hearing this week in light of President Trump's speech - I reached four former intelligence officials, all of whom have played a direct role in either overseeing or running operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. So the agency has always played a big role in this war. military invasion got underway, a CIA team had already hopped on this old, rusty Russian helicopter and flown over the Hindu Kush mountains, landed in Afghanistan and started plotting GPS coordinates of Taliban targets. KELLY: Well, let me start by answering that by reminding folks that the CIA actually had the first boots on the ground in this war right after 9/11. SHAPIRO: So how does the CIA fit into the Trump strategy for Afghanistan? MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE: Hey there, Ari. So does Trump's new strategy for Afghanistan spell a bigger role for the Central Intelligence Agency? NPR's Mary Louise Kelly is here to take on that question. And historically, that's been the business of the CIA. SHAPIRO: Well, to kill terrorists, you have to find them. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are not nation building again. When he addressed the nation this week, Trump laid out the mission this way. We're going to spend a few minutes now examining President Trump's plan for Afghanistan. ![]()
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