No Intel Briefs for Trump: Wise, Smart Move — U.S. Allies Mostly Approve

 

I'm listening Vóva (nickname) tell me

(I'll tell you mine, too)

Big important and very good news story here from Business Insider here with this headline and these highlight points:

“European spies can stop holding back secrets from the U.S. after Biden called for end to Trump's briefings…”

·  Since Biden took office, allied intelligence agencies now appear more willing to share secrets.

·  Sources told Insider they are reassured by Biden's call to end his predecessor's briefings.

·  Some allies were spooked and held back after Trump shared secret information with Russia in 2017.

From the article:

Moves by President Joe Biden to restrict Trump's access to intelligence has reassured European allies that they can share freely with the U.S. again. Officials in three different intelligence services in Europe responded warmly to comments by Biden in his first TV interview as president, where he said he didn't want Trump to keep getting intelligence briefings. 

Previous presidents have been given the briefings as a courtesy, which the current president can cancel at any time. Though Biden said he saw no need for Trump to keep getting briefed, he stopped short of saying definitively that he would cut him off. Nonetheless, the move reassured the intelligence officials that Insider spoke to, all of whom requested anonymity because of the nature of their work. 

One, a senior official for a European country that's also a member of NATO, said: “This was expected and is a bit of a symbolic move - but it puts an end into the extraordinary situation where services like ours became reluctant to share key intelligence details because of fears these details would filter up from the national security community to the president, who would then tell them to the Russian ambassador.” (Whom Trump was famous for bragging with).

My 2 cents: Recall this story from the Washington Post (May 15, 2017) with this headline: “Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador” and in the Oval Office no less.

Remember this Oval Office scene when Trump told FM Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Kislyak: “I just fired FBI director Comey.” 

The Russian’s reaction was like Ho Lee Sh*t – is that so? Yuk, yuk’s filled the room:

Plus, other one-on-one talks with Russians with no Americans present.

This was a smart and sorely needed move and thanks Mr. Biden for implementing it – long overdue.

Thanks for stopping by.