Remember Hillary Clinton’s email scandal way back in 2016? She used a private server in her home for some official public communications. An FBI investigation that stretched over several years did not find any emails marked classified but federal agencies retrospectively determined that 100 emails should have been classified, including 22 as “Top Secret”. FBI director James Comey concluded that Clinton had been careless but recommended no charges be filed.
The Hillary
Clinton emails received more media coverage than any other topic during the
2016 presidential campaign. Donald Trump took full advantage of it, grinning
while his supporters chanted “Lock her up!” at his rallies. He made security one
of his key items in his platform. Here are some of Trump’s quotes made during
the campaign.
In my administration I’m going to
enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one
will be above the law. (18 August 2016)
We also need to fight this battle by
collecting intelligence and then protecting, protecting our classified secrets…
We can’t have someone in the Oval Office who doesn’t understand the meaning of
the word confidential or classified. (6 September 2016)
One of the first things we must do
is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling
of classified information. (7 September 2016)
We also need the best protection of classified
information. (19
September 2016)
Then as
President of the United States, Trump made the following statement on 26 July
2028.
As the head of the executive branch
and Commander in Chief, I have a unique, Constitutional responsibility to
protect the Nation’s classified information, including by controlling access to
it… Any access granted to our Nation’s secrets should be in furtherance of
national, not personal, interests.
But his
actions did not follow his campaign promises. To say he was careless would be a
gross understatement – Trump had utter disregard for national security. He frequently
posted classified information on Twitter, used insecure telephones or emails to
discuss classified information.
In May
2017, a few months into his first presidency, Donald Trump secretly met with
the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the Oval Office and handed them
the name of an intelligence agent working for the US and Israel spying on the
Islamic State in Syria. After the meeting American intelligence pulled a
high-level source from within the Russian government who was at risk from
mishandling of classified information by Trump administration.
In another
incident in 2019 Trump posted to Twitter a high-resolution image taken of an
Iran facility that revealed the capabilities of the American spy satellites. The
only other photograph from a KH-11 spy satellite that had been leaked was in
1984, and the man who leaked it went to prison for espionage.
While in
the White House Trump regularly illegally destroyed records and documents by
shredding and burning them and even flushed some down the toilet.
When he
left the White House Trump took with him boxes of documents that by law (the
Presidential Records Act of 1978) belong to the National Archives and Records
Administration. Many of the boxes that he took contained classified documents, which contravenes
several other laws. He stored them, unsecured, at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago,
where he often entertains foreign agents. Trump ignored requests by the
government to return the documents. When the documents were subpoenaed Trump
returned some boxes and moved and hid others. It took a surprise raid on Mar-a-Lago
by the FBI to obtain the rest (and there are suspicions that some may still be missing).
Trump’s
second presidency is already worse for security.
Both the FBI and CIA have been significantly weakened by the firing of top officials and experienced agents.
Trump’s
soon to be confirmed Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has been
described as a “Russian asset”. She supported Russia’s involvement in Syria,
denying the Syrian regime’s crimes against their own people. When Russia
invaded Ukraine she blamed NATO and Biden. She bought the lie that the US had
biolabs in Ukraine developing bioweapons. While there is no evidence she has actually collaborated
with Russian agents, her nomination to this senior intelligence position is more
than a bit concerning. The Syrian translator who was with Gabbard in her visit
to Syria said of her “And what she is
doing with Ukraine shows that it goes beyond her maybe misunderstanding one conflict.
She is hook, line and sinker, a Russian puppet.”
On her
first day on the job as Attorney General, Pam Bondi disbanded the Foreign
Influence Task Force which investigates the influence of other countries, such
as Russia and China, on US elections. The former head of FBI
counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi said of the move “It’s astounding. It’s now
a free for all for foreign Intel services seeking influence.”
As
explained in the February 4 post, the collapse of USAID has given Russia and
especially China opportunities to expand their influence in Africa, Asia and Central
and South America, diminishing American national security.
Internal
security of American’s private data has also been compromised.
Elon Musk
and his young computer-coding engineers (Robert Reich calls them the Musk-rats)
have illegally infiltrated several federal government agencies including USAID
(see my February 4 post), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), Department of Education, Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) and the United States Treasury, gaining access to their data
and firing anyone who tries to stop them. Not only is much of the information they are
accessing private and confidential but these kids (ages 18-25) have no security
clearance whatsoever and no authority to do what they are doing other than the
President’s approval.
This week
the CIA on orders from the President sent a list of new CIA employees to the Office
of Personnel Management by unclassified email. Sending the list this way makes
it easier for China or Russia intelligence to hack, exposing all of these
people to risk. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence
Committee said that the sharing of the officer’s names was “a disastrous
national security development”.
Donald
Trump has made America and the World less safe. And it’s only week three.
Sources
https://hartmannreport.com/p/musks-and-trumps-national-security-115
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/06/lock-her-up-we-now-know-trump-did-far-worse/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%27s_disclosures_of_classified_information
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elon-musks-government-dismantling-fight-stop/story?id=118576033
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/musk-doge-aides.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/cia-names-list.html
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