Lawfare Blog has the best front-end analysis of the latest piece of Trumpian incompetence.
- Notably, national security advisor General H.R. McMaster limited his denial to the fact that, “At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.”
- Likewise, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has denied disclosure of any information on “sources, methods or military operations.”
These are both very carefully worded statements that leave open the possibility that classified information was disclosed other than sources and methods or that classified information was disclosed which might be used as a basis to infer sources and methods not directly disclosed.
Typically, policies related to the safeguarding of classified information treat both sources and methods information and information pertaining to or related to sources and methods in the same category…
There may be disclosures yet to come.
According to one current U.S. official quoted in Buzzfeed, the situation is “far worse than what has already been reported.” The New York Times writes that “sharing the information without the express permission of the ally who provided it ... could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship.”
This is perhaps the gravest allegation of presidential misconduct in the scandal-ridden four months of the Trump administration.
This story is likely to be immensely consequential. Below are some initial thoughts based on the facts available about what this story is, what it isn’t, and what we do and do not yet know…
The information in question is of particular significance both
- because the Russians might be able to infer sources and methods, notwithstanding General McMaster’s careful statement that sources and methods were not “discussed,” and
- because it was shared with the United States by a foreign partner.
Indeed, the Post story discusses the concern of U.S. officials that the Russians might inferentially “identify the U.S. ally or intelligence capability involved, and one official is quoted as saying that “Russia could identify our sources or techniques” based on what was disclosed. If true, Trump did not just jeopardize our own intelligence sources, but those of another country. Intelligence sharing relationships are critical to U.S. security interests around the world, and in particular in the fight coalition against ISIS. The United States intelligence community and military are simply not able to access every relevant source of intelligence and thus depends on a network of intelligence sharing partnerships. Breaching the trust of a foreign partner could substantially harm that relationship moving forward and could undermine the confidence of other foreign governments in the U.S. government’s ability to safeguard information…
The Post reports that the “information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government."
This is why Trump aides moved quickly to ensure that the information was “stricken from internal memos and for the full transcript to be limited to a small circle of recipients” in order to prevent further dissemination or leaks and to limit the damage from the disclosure…
In other words, what Trump thought he was doing might well inflect whether we should see this as
- an act of carelessness,
- an act of carelessness bordering on treachery, or
- an act of judgment (even if misjudgment) of the sort we elect presidents to make.
If the President gave this information away through carelessness or neglect, he has arguably breached his oath of office…
It’s particularly striking that among the Russian officials with whom Trump may have discussed classified information is none other than Kislyak, who has a habit of holding inopportune meetings with high-ranking members of the Trump team.
It was conversations with Kislyak over the possible lifting of sanctions that led to Flynn’s resignation, and revelations of undisclosed meetings with the Ambassador during the campaign pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the Russia connection...
If such a recording system does exist, the conversations recorded could go a long way towards answering the mysteries above regarding why the President gave this information to the Russians, and whether he violated his oath or some other law in the process. We thus expect the incident with the Russians to put even more pressure on the White House to answer the question whether the recording system exists...
Trump must not appoint a political figure for the job, but rather must replace Comey with someone apolitical with law enforcement expertise and a reputation for independence…
Finally, Trump’s alleged screw-up with the Russians reveals yet again what we have learned many times in the last four months: The successful operation of our government assumes a minimally competent Chief Executive that we now lack.
He gave it to the Russians. In the Oval Office. In a fit of braggadocio.
Russia is antagonistic to the United States, although Trump has repeatedly indicated his desire to be chummy with the Russians—after all, as he notoriously said during the presidential campaign, we are both killers, and so on the same moral plane. He apparently divulged the information to show off, which not only shows a lack of self-discipline: It shows, yet again, how easy this man is to play, particularly by veteran manipulators like his two experienced, talented, and thuggish guests. The crisis is made worse by virtue of Trump having just fired the FBI director, apparently for having pushed that Russia investigation too far.
Quite apart from making himself and the country a laughingstock around the world, the president has now practically begged Vladimir Putin to toy with him, tantalize him, tease him, flatter him, manipulate him. He has shown the Russians (and others, who are watching just as closely) just how easy that is to do, and he has shown the rest of us that his vanity and impulsiveness have not been tempered by the highest responsibilities.