\u201cGather round, kids.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump tweeted out a high-resolution image of an Iranian missile test. For a good three or four minutes I was literally reduced to whimpering. A former Air Force Office of Special Investigations friend told me in lieu of drinking heavily he was curled up in a fetal position on the couch. Another friend who served in an allied intelligence service \u2014 well, we\u2019ll get into his feelings in a bit: let\u2019s just say they\u2019re not positive. There seems to be a lot of people losing their heads over this. Brett Johnson wants to know why.<\/p>\n
Let me start by saying that it\u2019s a completely reasonable question. Anybody who wants to mock him for asking why needs to do it somewhere other than here. The problem with this completely reasonable question is that wow, really, where to begin, there is so much terrible here to choose from.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the image itself. It was released via tweet and the President\u2019s personal account, which is already troubling. The President\u2019s account is, to put it lightly, uncensored. It does not get vetted through official channels. It is the President\u2019s stream-of-consciousness outlet to the world. This already should give people concern in the, \u2018wait, was this image vetted by the intelligence community?\u2019 sense.<\/p>\n
In fact, there is evidence it was not.<\/p>\n
The next thing you\u2019ll notice about the image is there\u2019s a bright spot in the center. Thanks to a gloriously misspent life, I can tell you that\u2019s probably a cellphone camera flash off a projection screen. (Probably. If the image were higher-resolution I might be able to tell you if the cellphone model is consistent with the President\u2019s cellphone model.) This is not a normal way of getting copies of classified material. If you talk to people who have had the responsibility of protecting classified material and ask them, \u2018what would you do if someone in a classified briefing broke out a cell phone and started taking pictures of the slides?\u2019 the answer would very possibly involve a body tackle and holding the person on the ground until security arrived. The cell phone would never leave the briefing facility. The person\u2019s career would immediately end. You may think I\u2019m kidding: I am not.<\/p>\n
Generally speaking, the only time someone is alone in a briefing room with a classified slide deck is when they\u2019re the person delivering the presentation and they\u2019re setting up for it. The person(s) delivering this briefing didn\u2019t need to take a photo of it: they already have the images. That photograph was taken by a briefing attendee, using a cellphone camera, with flash. There is no way other people in the room did not know what was going on. Whoever was in the room knew something was wrong, and they were unable to prevent it from happening.<\/p>\n
Put it together and what you get is a pretty good circumstantial case that Mr. Trump took his cell phone into a classified briefing room and, in the middle of the presentation, took a flash photograph of a slide he liked. Whoever was in the room likely tried to persuade him not to, likely explained the massive violations of White House policy and guidelines for handling classified information, and was unable to persuade Mr. Trump to simply _not take a photograph of a classified briefing._<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m typing those words.<\/p>\n
They couldn\u2019t persuade him to leave his cell phone at the door. They couldn\u2019t persuade him not take a photograph of a classified briefing.<\/p>\n
The next question is whether what he released was national security information. One person commented \u2014 quite foolishly \u2014 that \u2018obviously\u2019 the intelligence community signed off on the release. I\u2019m unaware of any evidence for that. I see what looks like it could have been a classification marking in the upper left hand corner, which is now obscured by a blackout bar. But that\u2019s not how documents are declassified. When documents are declassified it\u2019s either because enough time has passed for them to be automatically declassified, or because an appropriate authority has declassified them. In the former case, you\u2019ll see markings like \u2018Classified Until\u2019 and a date. In the latter case you\u2019ll see markings like, \u2018Declassified on [date], by [person].\u2019 We don\u2019t see those markings here. We know it\u2019s declassified, because Mr. Trump assures us it\u2019s declassified. But it sure wasn\u2019t declassified through the normal process.<\/p>\n
So far here\u2019s what we have strong circumstantial evidence to believe: that Mr. Trump took his cell phone into a classified briefing, that he took a photograph of a slide, he bypassed normal declassification channels, and posted it to Twitter.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s the first problem, Brett. His defenders will claim nothing he did was illegal, and that\u2019s true: the President stands superior to all policies regarding classified materials. He has unlimited discretion to violate those policies as he wishes. But with that power must come accountability, in the form of Congressional hearings for the *abuse* of that power.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s see if his use of power was responsible. Let\u2019s start by looking at our international partners.<\/p>\n
The intelligence community has an analogue to NATO. It\u2019s called the Five Eyes, and is as close as you\u2019ll find to a league of gentlemen among the heartless bastards of the intelligence community. The Five Eyes are the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The United States is the big bruiser of the Five Eyes, with capabilities the others can\u2019t match \u2014 but at the same time, never underestimate the ability of these other nations to get human assets in interesting places because they\u2019re *not* Americans. A few years ago when there was an Al Qaeda plot to pack bombs in printer toner cartridges and load them onto airlines, we managed to foil those murderous intentions because Great Britain had a guy on the inside tipping us off. We give a lot to the Five Eyes. We also get an awful lot back. It is fair trade in the best sense of the word: everybody is better off as a result of the information sharing among the Five Eyes.<\/p>\n
Right now the United Kingdom is having a massive dust-up with Iran. Iran has been seizing British ships on the high seas. The British Navy has about two dozen warships. They\u2019re superb warships with superb crews, but they only have about two dozen. They cannot be everywhere in the world they need to be, and they are massively dependent on good intelligence to let them know where they need to be. The United States has all kinds of surveillance assets operating in the Middle East right now: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan. And I will bet my bottom dollar that we are giving our friends in Great Britain priority access to Iranian surveillance, in order to help them find their seized ships, keep track of Iranian Navy operations, and more.<\/p>\n
Imagine you\u2019re a Secret Intelligence Service (what was formerly called \u2018MI6\u2032) analyst who just turned on the BBC.<\/p>\n
The American President has just told Iran just how good our surveillance is. And that\u2019s going to affect the calculus for how Great Britain protects *its* national interests, because now the Iranians know what level of coverage the British are likely getting.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump didn\u2019t just reveal *our* capabilities when he tweeted that improperly-taken, improperly-declassified picture.<\/p>\n
He revealed *the Five Eyes\u2019 capabilities*.<\/p>\n
I promise you, the nations of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are all having the screaming heebie-jeebies over this.<\/p>\n
But wait, it gets worse.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time Mr. Trump has jeopardized the safety of our allies. Do you remember two years ago when some murderous lunatic detonated a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in London? Their Security Service (\u2018MI5\u2019) immediately shared with us highly confidential photographs of the crime scene. The FBI gave the Security Service assurances that we would protect it. We had to, because if those photographs were to be leaked it would have jeopardized Great Britain\u2019s ability to prosecute the perpetrator in court. (UK law is pretty strict about pre-trial publicity: unnecessary public disclosure of evidence creates massive problems for the Crown Prosecutorial Service.)<\/p>\n
And yet somehow those photographs appeared in the _New York Times_. Jeopardized the prosecution of terrorism suspects, and why? Because someone in the White House (we do not know it was Mr. Trump) could not be bothered to properly care for confidential documents shared by an ally.<\/p>\n
Two years ago we violated the UK\u2019s ability to prosecute a terrorist. Today Mr. Trump has announced to the world exactly how good a view on the world the UK is getting from us.<\/p>\n
I am terrified, Brett \u2014 I am genuinely terrified \u2014 that the next time Great Britain discovers an Al Qaeda plot to stuff plastique into printer toner cartridges and put them on 747s, they\u2019ll say, \u2018we should wait, let\u2019s not share this with the Americans just yet unless it\u2019s absolutely necessary, you know how their President tweets things.\u2019<\/p>\n
_And that will get Americans killed._<\/p>\n
Some people will say, \u2018wow, Rob cares an awful lot about allied intelligence capabilities,\u2019 as if I somehow shouldn\u2019t care about them. Yes, I care about our connections with allied intelligence agencies, _because it keeps Americans alive._ These intelligence sharing agreements _keep Americans alive_ and Mr. Trump is jeopardizing them.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know what kind of storm is brewing within the Five Eyes over this. I couldn\u2019t begin to imagine. But there is absolutely no reason to think this was announced to our partners in advance, or that we asked their opinion on whether publishing this would jeopardize their national security interests, or anything else.<\/p>\n
This tweet will get Americans killed.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s not even get into Australia. Australia\u2019s living in a bad neighborhood. You\u2019ve got an expansionist China, a North Korea that\u2019s throwing rockets off every which way, there\u2019s\u2026good grief. Now all of Australia\u2019s adversaries are studying the Iranian missile site and thinking, \u2018mmhmm, so _that\u2019s_ the quality of intelligence Sydney is receiving.\u2019<\/p>\n
Brett, you said that you thought Iran already knew our capabilities. Maybe, maybe not. But do you think China knew them? China and North Korea? China and North Korea and Cuba? China and North Korea and Cuba and Syria? China and North Korean and Cuba and Syria and Russia? China and North Korea and Cuba and Syria and Russia and every other place that thinks the West needs to be taught a lesson?<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump gave valuable information about our surveillance capabilities to _all of them._<\/p>\n
_At once._<\/p>\n
Words fail me.<\/p>\n
Brett, this is bad. This is really, really bad. And even with as many words as I\u2019ve written here, I\u2019ve only scratched the surface of why it\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n
Why is it bad?<\/p>\n
Because it shows that Mr. Trump cannot be persuaded to follow standard policies on the handling of national security information.<\/p>\n
Because it shows that he\u2019s not listening to his advisors who shriek in horror when he breaks out a cell phone in a briefing.<\/p>\n
Because it shows that he hasn\u2019t learned from his administration\u2019s past mistakes with releasing confidential photographs belonging to Her Majesty\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
Because it shows that he doesn\u2019t think.<\/p>\n
Because every time he does this he\u2019s inflicting a terrible wound on the international cooperation that keeps Americans safe.<\/p>\n
Because it shows he doesn\u2019t know or care how it\u2019s going to impact our allies.<\/p>\n
Because he\u2019s going to get Americans killed.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why when I saw this photograph I wanted to drink heavily.<\/p>\n
Now, if you\u2019ll pardon me, my Scotch awaits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Rob Hansen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What does this have to do with the gospel, you ask?\u00a0 Simply this: when it all comes crashing down it will be the massive pride and blindness of the liars who saw themselves as the Greatest Christians of All Time and who backed this crook to the end that will be remembered and cursed by generations yet unborn.\u00a0 Meanwhile, disciples of Christ and people of good will who saw and who spoke and who warned and who resisted will be left to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most notable (and diabolical) features of the Cult of Trump is it\u2019s constant habit of using accusation as a form of confession.\u00a0 What it declares its enemies guilty of is, again and again, a confession of its own deepest desires and evils.\u00a0 So, for instance, the great rallying cry of the Cult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1071],"class_list":["post-113403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-the-cult-of-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Cult Where Accusation is Always Confession<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the most notable (and diabolical) features of the Cult of Trump is it's constant habit of using accusation as a form of confession.\u00a0 What it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/09\/the-cult-where-accusation-is-always-confession.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cult Where Accusation is Always Confession\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most notable (and diabolical) features of the Cult of Trump is it's constant habit of using accusation as a form of confession.\u00a0 What it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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