Having allowed The Donald to shoot his mouth off, intelligence services have to at least let the Unknown Ally know. Because otherwise when they do find out everything, it’s not just ‘Cheeto blabbed - sorry’. Now it’s ‘Cheeto blabbed and all the rest of us covered it up for days/weeks/months, thus depriving you of any possibility of protecting your information sources (like, for instance, choosing not to share them with us any more)’
Much better to take the smaller short term hit, and 'fess up at the start. Keeping the incident secret from Unknown Ally forever is not really a viable game plan.
And if Unknown Ally knows, the rest of us may as well
Everyone realizes the President has that legal power to release info but doing so unilaterally directly violates the agreement through which the information was gained. So maybe you are quibbling over the word “right”?
It might be that they would eventually find out that the Russians know about it. But it seems highly unlikely that they would know that the Russians found out via Trump’s blabbing. Which is the key issue here.
They need to balance competing interests. IMO, if there’s really serious harm to the nation’s security from publicizing these things, then they should not publicize it.
More like, you went out of town for a long trip and forgot to lock your doors. Someone finds out about it and goes about publicizing in all available venues: “TERRIBLE SECURITY BREACH!!! AIRBECK IS OUT OF TOWN FOR A LONG WHILE AND DID NOT LOCK HIS DOORS!!! THIS COULD LEAD TO THIEVES ENTERING HIS HOUSE AND STEALING ALL HIS POSSESSIONS!!!”
Very important to do this. Otherwise things like this would happen all the time. Better to publicize it.
No, but I’d say the public has some of that information.
When the President decides to release intel that could damage a source, I want to believe that there has been a sober weighing of the value gained by the release as opposed to the loss of utility we suffer from damage to the source.
Don’t get me wrong: I fully appreciate that a source whose information cannot be used at all is not a useful source. At some point, we must be able to use info we gain from such trusted conduits.
But the decision to do so should be made with careful consideration.
Now, all reports here are that the President shot from the hip. I am open to hearing contrary information, but as it now stands I (a member of the public) am hearing enough information to justify the inference that the careful deliberation I spoke of did not happen.
Without access to the actual intelligence sharing arrangement it’s within the realm of possibility that this type of sharing is not violative of the arrangement, but I think the chance of that being true is remote enough to be disregarded.
Interesting thing: my wife teaches 10th grade. Yesterday, she told me, she was discussing the NK nuclear issue, and the dangers of a madman like Kim Jung Un having access to nuclear weapons. And the kids asked “how is that different than Trump having access to nuclear weapons?” She had to struggle for an answer …
It might follow from that fact that the Russians will eventually figure out whatever secret it is. OK. It does not follow from that fact that the country which originally provided this information will be able to trace the disclosure back to the US and Trump. The Russians have a very skilled intelligence service, and the mere fact that the Russians know something (even assuming the other country finds that out) doesn’t imply that Trump told it to them.
"In the context of that discussion, what the President discussed with the Foreign Minister was wholly appropriate to that conversation and is consistent with the routine sharing of information between the President and any leaders with whom he’s engaged…
That conversation was wholly appropriate with what the expectations are of our intelligence partners.
…
I was in the room. The Secretary of State was in the room, as you know. Dina Powell was in the room. And none of us felt that this conversation was inappropriate."
Yeah, because what is the worth of the word of a 3 star general with a reputation for scrupulous honesty, plus that of the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, compared to that of an anonymous leaker?
All these people are under tremendous pressure to back up Trump. Remember what just happened to Comey.
I don’t think it’s a slam dunk, but if I had to bet I would say Trump went over the line. Especially since it’s Trump we’re talking about. It’s not like he otherwise has a history of carefully deliberated action, and a good understanding of the implications of his actions.
Don’t forget that the American Press Corps was kept out of this meeting, but that the Russian press Corps Tass, was invited to this meeting. They could have published this information.
If this had been done by President Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton or John McCain, I’d have been unperturbed. They are all experienced with intelligence matters and confidentiality. The Russia/US press thing would have been weird, but I’d generally assume that they knew what they were doing.
If it was Mitt Romney, it could very well have been a mistake but a certain learning curve must be expected. Romney is not stupid, and one assumes that if he were president, he would want to learn.
The problem with Trump is that his tweets have exposed him as entirely capable of spilling secrets to the Russians through stupidity or the need to brag. It is not possible to assume that he knows what hes doing.
