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.

A Sober Assessment

Posted: September 29, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

With Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to open an impeachment inquiry into the actions of the president, a new chapter of American history is about to be written.  This is serious business and it should be approached soberly by all of us.

Recognizing that I have used this space before to call for an impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump’s activities, I still caution everyone, Democrat, Republican, Independent or Undecided to pay attention to events as they unfold and not to jump to any conclusions until all of the facts are known and fully understood.  Such an inquiry should not be taken lightly and the full consequences for our democracy should be fully understood and everyone must conduct themselves appropriately.

Please keep in mind, as well, that the inquiry is only the first step of many as the Congress moves forward.  An inquiry determines if the House of Representatives considers there to be sufficient evidence to formulate Articles of Impeachment.  If they so decide that the evidence exists, then through the Judiciary Committee they formulate the Articles and the entire House votes on each Article as to whether it should be referred to the Senate.  The vote is on a simple majority.  Should Articles be approved, the matter is referred to the Senate for a trial.  It takes a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict on any particular Article.  Think of the House as a grand jury.  They investigate and if they find sufficient evidence they refer it to trial in the Senate.  The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides at the trial, although the Majority Leader of the Senate can formulate the process by which the trial proceeds.

In my view, the inquiry is fully appropriate.  Forget for the moment (if such is possible) the results of the Mueller Report, the misappropriation of funds, the declarations of National Emergencies where none exist, the violation of campaign laws and the rest of it.  The information that became available in the course of last week concerning Mr. Trump’s interactions with the president of Ukraine is sufficient, in and of itself, to warrant investigation.

If you remember nothing else, note that the Russian interference involved the 2016 election.  Mr. Trump was working to solicit interference in the 2020 election.  After all we learned about the past, Mr. Trump intended to move ahead with a bigger and better plan to throw the next election.  Note that his now famous phone call took place the day after Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller testified before Congress.  In the phone call Mr. Trump is quoted as saying, “As you saw yesterday, that whole performance ended with a poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine.”  In Mr. Trump’s mind there was no consequence to his actions in 2016 so he decided to do it again.

The information in the public domain was released by the Trump Administration itself.  The memorandum for the record of the 25 July conversation (read it here) and the unclassified version of the whistle-blower’s complaint (read it here) were not “leaked” or otherwise released by nefarious means.  Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump have themselves validated that the events occurred as depicted in those documents.  And more.

It is the “and more” that adds context to the matter and illustrates the depth of the alleged abuse of office.  The problem is way more concerning than one phone call, although in itself it is quite serious.

Without going into every twist and turn, the big picture indicates that Mr. Giuliani began working with the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt on former Vice President Biden and his son Hunter in late 2018, as soon as it became apparent the Mr. Biden would run for president and be a serious threat to Mr. Trump’s re-election.  He worked with discredited and then current Ukrainian prosecutors of the government of President Poroshenko.  In January, February, and March of this year he continued to pressure them to investigate the Bidens and to promote disproved conspiracy theories concerning the Democratic National Committee emails and servers and the then Ambassador from the U.S. to Ukraine, claiming that they worked to interfere in the 2016 election (not the Russians).

All was going well from Mr. Giuliani’s stand point until on 21 April Volodymyr Zelensky beat all predictions by defeating Mr. Poroshenko in the presidential election.  Mr. Zelensky ran on a platform of eliminating corruption in the Ukrainian government and nearly all new prosecutors were appointed.  Much of Mr. Giuliani’s work went to waste and they needed to start over in trying to co-opt the Ukrainians.  That process began with a congratulatory phone call to the winner.

In May the president permanently recalled U.S. Ambassador Masha Yovanonitch, a career State Department employee, because she was trying to counter Mr. Giuliani’s attempts at co-opting the new government.  She was, in essence, fired for working to protect the national security interests of the United States.

Later in May, Mr. Trump cancelled Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the Ukrainian president’s inauguration, an embarrassing blow to the new president.  In the whistle-blower’s complaint the reason was to withhold favors for Mr. Zelensky until they could determine if he would “play ball” with Mr. Trump through Mr. Giuliani — presumably meaning that they would work to discredit the Bidens and to support conspiracy theories about former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s emails.

In July of this year, the Office of Management and Budget, on the direction of the president himself, according to the whistle-blower, withheld much needed military and other aid for Ukraine.  When State Department and Pentagon officials tried to find out the reason, they were stonewalled. On 25 July the president made his phone call and on the 26th, envoys of the U.S. met with President Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials to help them “navigate the demands the president had made” the previous day.

Other outrageous details of improper behavior can be found in the complaint that the Intelligence Community (IC) Inspector General (IG) and the Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) both testified was “credible.”  Both individuals were appointed by Mr. Trump.

It might also be noted quickly that Ukraine is in a fighting war with Russia.  13,000 Ukrainians have died in the fight and the Russians helped to shoot down Malaysian Air Flight 17 with the loss of all 298 people onboard.  Any delay or cancellation of arms to Ukraine helps Russia in its efforts.

In the grand tradition of Washington DC, a cover-up occurred.  As a minimum, the details of the phone call and other activities were over-classified and stored on a computer designed to be used for only the highest classified compartmented information.  This was a decision designed to protect Mr. Trump from embarrassing domestic political activity.  We do not know how many other conversations or documents are improperly classified in order to protect the president from his own actions and words by hiding them from the public and government officials that might object to such activity.

These are serious allegations that cannot be brushed away.  They certainly deserve a full investigation.  One can than decide for oneself whether or not the facts as they are uncovered deserve impeachment or not.

In that discussion, remember that a lot of smoke is going to be blown to try and hide the real transgressions.  Some will take a narrow legal approach that no U.S. laws were actually broken.  Others will argue that a president has the Constitutional right to conduct foreign policy in any manner that they choose.  Some will argue it was “just a phone call” to a country that no one cares about.  Others will argue that we as citizens are naive if we don’t think that this is how it is always done.  Some will simply argue that there is nothing to see here, please move along.

We have a national security interest in Ukraine because if Russia gets away with its aggression, Russia has ambitions concerning other “traditional” Russian areas such as the Baltic states.  As members of NATO, any attack on the Baltic states is an attack on all members of NATO, including the U.S.

I simply say that the President of the United States, by his own admission and corroborated by Mr. Giuliani and others, used his office to involve a foreign government in our national elections in an attempt to personally benefit from another nation’s activities at the expense of our own national security.

To ignore it is to condone it.