Amateurs, Clowns, And Our National Security

Posted: March 25, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday in the Atlantic Magazine Jeffrey Goldberg wrote an article about how he was accidentally included in text chains over several days involving Cabinet level and senior administration officials discussing the United States’ military attacks on the Houthi rebels in Yemen on 15 March 2025. Let me say that again. Text chains. U.S. military attacks. Cabinet officials.

Unconscionable.

The Trump administration, through the National Security Council (NSC), verified that the text chains were authentic. Some supporters of the president are trying to claim that it was a “leak” and that the journalist involved was somehow dishonest or incompetent or just a plain old scoundrel. So much for integrity in government. It was neither leaked, nor stolen, nor obtained by some nefarious means. Someone in the government (likely National Security Adviser Mike Waltz) accidently included Mr. Goldberg in the text group. Indeed, Mr. Goldberg thought at first that it was some kind of trick, or someone was phishing him, or some other kind of entrapment to embarrass him. It was real. Hours before the Houthis were attacked, Mr. Goldberg knew exactly what was going to happen and when. Once he realized the full extent of what he was seeing, he notified the NSC and had himself taken off the group chat.

Mr. Goldberg had more integrity than those members of the administration involved could muster in their little finger. He did not reveal or publish the most sensitive details of the texts that included specific names, places, times, weapons, bomb packages and other information that could be used by an adversary to intercept or attack the U.S. military forces involved.

As a former military tactical commander and as an aide to senior members of the Department of Defense in the Pentagon, it is hard for me to get my head around just how wrong, dangerous, unprincipled and indefensible this is. From reading the parts of the transcript that were published, it is clear that senior members of the Trump administration use these means of communication to discuss sensitive issues on a regular basis.

Administration officials and MAGA members of Congress are trying to laugh it away as inconsequential because the mission was successful and are taking a kind of “no harm, no foul” approach to it all. One Senator opined that no “mom or dad” was losing sleep over the disclosure. I disagree. The parents of those that put their lives on the line for our country certainly care. They want to know that their loved one’s lives are not being frivolously wasted. The soldiers, Sailors, Marines and airmen certainly care. I hope that the members of the Joint Chiefs are slamming their fists on the Secretary’s desk and demanding answers. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried to use a technicality by saying that no “war plans” (as many in the press are referring to the information in the exchanges) were discussed. I can only assume that he is trying to get by on a technicality. In the Pentagon “war plans” are extensive, theater wide documents outlining actions tantamount to “big” wars such as invading Iran. To the general public, however, it was clear that they discussed what most people would consider to be war plans, as in combat operations — using very specific information. Nice try Pete. You aren’t on Fox News anymore.

Clearly our national security is in the hands of amateurs and clowns. More significantly it reveals how arrogant and smug the Secretary of Defense actually is in his day-to-day transactions. Apparently, senior members of this administration do not think that the rules apply to them. But of course the man at the top sets the tone for their total disregard for protecting our secrets. (There are other revelations in the exchanges including how much Vice President J.D. Vance and other Cabinet officials hate Europeans. And for decisions of such importance, there are unusually juvenile emojis used.)

The texts were on the app “Signal” which is advertised as encrypted. Not military or intelligence level encrypted, more like you don’t want your colleagues at work to know what you are saying about them encrypted. It is an open source service that anyone can download onto their phone. In no way is it authorized for sensitive, much less highly classified, military and intelligence information. A military member doing the same thing would be instantly fired and probably court martialed. Multiple national security laws were broken in the process of using unauthorized cell phones to communicate this information, not to mention that our laws dictate the retention of official communications and documents and this app destroys any exchanges after a given amount of time.

In an administration that actually cares about the safety of our troops, these conversations would have taken place over highly classified secure networks, or in person, in a secure area known as a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). Cell phones are easily traceable and can be hacked without the owner knowing about it. Cell phones, Apple watches, and other personal devices are not allowed in a SCIF. (Without going into the details, the SCIF is not secure if there are personal portable devices inside.) Additionally, some of those in the chat group did not have a “need to know” the details of the operation. One needs a classified clearance to access sensitive information, but having a clearance, even the highest available, does not automatically mean access. One also has to have a need to know that information, as in it is necessary for the fulfillment of one’s duties or to make an educated decision.

At a minimum, the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Adviser should resign. I am not holding my breath. There is no respect for the rest of the country, our norms or even our laws with this group of cosplayers in charge of our national security. My guess is that no one will be held accountable, except possibly for a junior staffer who will be blamed for not saving the Cabinet members from themselves.

Thank goodness no one was killed as a result of this total disregard for the safety of our mariners and aviators on the front lines. It does seem obvious, however, that foreign intelligence services wishing to do us harm have probably been aware of this careless level of communications for some time. We can only guess what else they have learned.

The Never Ending Story

Posted: September 6, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

In case you had a normal, enjoyable long weekend, you may have missed the ruling yesterday from U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida. In her order, she decreed that a Special Master (or impartial reader) must review the roughly 11,000 stolen government documents legally seized by the FBI from Donald J. Trump’s club at Mar-a-Lago. Nearly every law professor, former prosecutor, and legal analyst considers the judge’s intervention in an ongoing criminal and national security investigation to be “unprecedented.” Many also think that it violates the separation of powers delineated in the Constitution.

This may be grounds for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appeal her court order.

As I understand it, she went beyond the usual procedure for a Special Master when she included issues of executive privilege. In what to some of us may seem is double think, since the DOJ, FBI and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are all part of the Executive Branch, there is no executive privilege to protect documents from the Executive Branch when it is the Executive Branch that wants them. Furthermore, Judge Cannon indicated that the use of executive privilege was not settled law. In other words, the previous court cases that said that executive privilege does not extend to former members of the Executive Branch, including former presidents, is wrong. This would include the 7-2 Supreme Court decision in 1977 that a former president does not have unrestricted use of government documents after leaving office. The case is Nixon v General Services Administration and had to do with the Constitutionality of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act passed in the wake of the Watergate revelations. The law is Constitutional according to the Supreme Court.

In her order (Donald J. Trump v United States of America, Case No. 22-81294-CIV-CANNON), among other notable exceptions to precedent, Judge Cannon (appointed to the bench after Trump lost the 2020 election and rammed through by then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), said in her order that those decisions do “not negate a former President’s ability to raise the privilege as an initial matter.” Since the FBI assumed that executive privilege did not apply (because it didn’t), they did not screen for it, according to the judge, and therefore, among other reasons, the Special Master is needed.

Furthermore, the judge argues that because Trump is a former President of the United States, he deserves special treatment. He would be impacted by the “stigma” of the legal seizure and he could suffer from “reputational harm.” In other words, we are not all equal under the law. Trump is special and should be so treated. She argues that one must be “mindful of the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances presented.”

Let that sink in for a moment. Judge Cannon is basically arguing that because Trump and his MAGA supporters are raising such a fuss about the FBI carrying out the legally obtained search warrant, that she must appease them. This past weekend Trump spoke at a campaign rally and said, “The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters, controlled by radical left scoundrels, lawyers and the media, who tell them what to do!” (FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump.) None of the MAGA crowd will be appeased by anything short of a coup to put Trump back in power. Judge Cannon is either a part of, or falling for, the scam that everything happening to Trump is unfair and only happens because the “radical left” hates him and causes all of his problems. It is a closed propaganda loop that reinforces itself over and over again. Not one thing that goes against Trump will be seen as fair or correct under the law.

In fact, it gets worse. Trump golf caddy and former-person-with-a-spine Senator Lindsey Graham proclaimed a week ago that if Trump is indicted for stealing the nation’s most highly guarded secrets that “there will be riots in the streets.” Not that he was afraid that there might be riots or that people may think that but they shouldn’t do it. No. “There will be.” Mob lingo for “it’s a nice little country you have there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.” Of course Trump trumpeted that statement on his financially broke social media forum. They know exactly what they are doing by threatening violence if they are held accountable. Such statements are particularly reprehensible in the context of Trump having used inflammatory language that lead to the assault on the Capital on January 6, 2020. Shameful.

The bottom line on the Special Master ruling is that as per his usual tactics, Trump will continue to delay, deny and then delay some more. Expect that there will protests over the selection of the Special Master, the decisions made by that person, and every imaginable thing that can be appealed. Many of those issues may end up with the Supreme Court. The point is that it will be months, if not years, before the items seized in August will again be turned back to the DOJ, FBI, or NARA.

We learn again and again and again that Trump has no regard for anything that does not enrich him or empower him. He simply acts as though the rules do not apply to him. Yesterday, a federal judge agreed. They don’t.

Think about it. The President. Of. The. United. States. stole government secrets and kept them in his club in Florida without anyone having any clear idea as to why, who has seen them or even if all of the documents have yet been recovered by national security officials. Are there some at his golf club in Bedminster N.J.? In Trump Tower? Did he sell them? Give them away? Clearly Trump had no understanding of national security, how information is obtained, the damage it can do, or that he has exposed every one of us to grave risk. He just doesn’t care. In a recent interview, Sue Gordon the recently retired Deputy Director of National Intelligence, calmly and clearly explained that this could be the biggest blow to U.S. national security ever. It could do irreparable harm to our interests and those of our friends and allies around the world.

I for one am exhausted by the never ending story. There is hope. The judge’s order does not cover the material obtained by NARA in January or the material turned over in June. (At that time a signed statement under oath said that was the last of the documents. One more of the tens of thousands of lies associated with Trump in the past six years.) It does not impact the work of the House Committee investigating the attempted coup and attack on the Capital. It does not impact the grand jury now known to be investigating that same attack. It does not impact the grand jury investigation in Georgia looking into Trump’s attempt to change the vote totals there in 2020. It does not impact the investigation underway in New York looking into the shady practices of Trump, Inc. (For which his CFO already pleaded guilty.) And that’s just the tip of the iceberg regarding Trump’s illegal activities.

So why is there not one indictment? From just what we know publicly about the classified documents it is unbelievable to me that no indictment has yet been handed down. Surely, the DOJ knows even more and that there is plenty of evidence with or without the documents seized in August.

In my mind, there are only two explanations. Either they will not prosecute him or there are bigger fish to fry than just stealing classified documents. They could be building a much larger case, especially if they have evidence as to what Trump did with that information. Personally, I think that the attempted coup and fomenting an insurrection are the crimes that should bring him to justice. That case may take longer because it is more nuanced and requires more hard evidence of Trump’s direct involvement in planning the coup with the intent to overthrow an election.

Whatever the case, get on with it already!