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White House letterhead doesn’t make it true. The new “fact sheet” identifies no altered votes, no evidence any foreign actor changed the 2020 election. Now agency heads have enlisted their institutions to discredit an election the President lost. I spoke with the Washington Post:

Trump’s claims of election interference in doubt after release of declassified intelligenceDeclassified evidence points to Beijing seeking personal data for espionage, not election interference.wapo.st

Glad to speak to the NYTimes’s @dustinvolz.bsky.social about DNI Pulte’s final destructive act: “The bill will come due in low morale and in Americans who won’t apply. Congress should demand to know what this is meant to achieve, and which national security functions will go unperformed.”

Trump’s Spy Chief Spends Final Hours in Job Boasting of Mass FiringsBill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, said he has terminated nearly a third of the officials in his office, but others doubt the figures are accurate.www.nytimes.com

We need to draw the line here. The most powerful intel apparatus on Earth should never be used to message the American people. This is bad. It can get worse.

Day One of a war over Taiwan would be the largest amphibious operation since D-Day — attempted by a PLA that hasn’t fought a war since 1979. I talked with Sasha Ingber about what Beijing is taking from the Iran war, and why cheap denial tools favor the defender.

What Beijing is learning from the Iran warWhat is China learning from the U.S.substack.com

Don’t leave me hanging like this Bill

Baghdad, 2005. A four-star general sat down at my laptop and hit delete. “Minimal Progress” became “Progress.” The graph showing attacks rising — gone. “I’m on with POTUS in an hour. Print it.” I did. New in Lawfare: how politicization works, and what it costs us.

What They Want to Hear: The Politicization of U.S. IntelligenceA campaign of firings and clearance revocations is teaching the intelligence community that silence is the only job security.www.lawfaremedia.org

702 is vital intel authority — but we have to be able to trust our government won’t turn it against us. The administration must stop treating some Americans as the enemy within.

To quote the Princess Bride re: President Trump’s claim of election interference. “I do not think it means what you think it means.” I read the docs so you didn’t have to.

Three developments. One story. Stay for the guitar solo. The administration declassifies what flatters, prosecutes what embarrasses, and installs the people to enforce it. This week on Rat Sec: the election speech, the leak probes, and the Clayton nomination.

Rational Security: The “(Deep State) Friends We Make Along the Way” EditionYouTube video by Lawfareyoutube.com

There’s a reason CIA is barred from domestic political activity. We learned it the hard way, and Congress wrote the rules in response. Last week CIA was conscripted to serve the President’s attempt to undermine confidence in our elections. Glad to speak with @davidrohde.bsky.social

Is the CIA enabling or restraining Trump’s election conspiracy theories?The president’s claim that U.S. spy agencies conspired against him has put CIA Director John Ratcliffe in an awkward position.www.ms.now

A land power with no navy shut the Strait of Hormuz — and the most powerful navy on earth couldn’t reopen it. The U.S. won every battle and lost the war. Beijing was watching. New in Lawfare: what the Iran war teaches China about Taiwan.

The Short-War Illusion: What Iran Teaches Beijing About TaiwanIn Iran, the U.S. won every battle but lost the war—a lesson for Beijing that decapitation and high-tech weapons don’t guarantee victory.www.lawfaremedia.org

They went looking for a smoking gun and couldn’t find a warm muzzle. I briefed this president in his first term. Read the documents he declassified — they don’t say what he says they say. In some places, they say the opposite. I broke it down with Jessica Yellin:

Trump's Receipts Didn't CooperateCIA analyst Julia Curlee explains Trump's strange new election claims. Plus: DHS demands voter rolls. The Pentagon's bro science. Smoke without borders. And News That Doesn't Suck for women's health.newsnotnoisejessicayellin.substack.com

Spoke with the New York Times about the cost of politicized intelligence — and the "generational damage to the intelligence agencies that are supposed to keep us safe and give the president decision advantage in the world."

Opinion | How Trump Abused the Power to Declassify America’s Secrets (Gift Article)The president is manipulating the intelligence community into a tool of misinformation.www.nytimes.com

Raw reporting is not intelligence. It’s an unfiltered stream, single-source claims, fragments, rumor. An entire discipline exists to weigh it and discard what doesn’t hold before it reaches a president. Fire those officers and you can’t tell garbage from intelligence. I spoke with The Atlantic:

Trump Still Hasn’t Found What He’s Looking ForThe president’s prime-time speech was more notable for what it didn’t prove than for what it did.www.theatlantic.com

The Iran deal didn’t just fail. It was built to fail. Purge the experts, ignore the analysis, launch a war of choice against a regime fighting for survival — this is what you get. This week’s Rational Security with @atabatabai.bsky.social @danbyman.bsky.social @scottanderson.bsky.social :

Assumed Dog Shirt was required. I regret nothing.

Killing the NSC with Julia CurleeYouTube video by #DogShirtTVyoutube.com

Day Three: the White House sacked 160 NSC officials, breaking the system that’s coordinated U.S. national security since 1947. The wreckage helped drive the disastrous Iran war. I was the Acting Senior Director for Intel. My new piece for Lawfare, on what political loyalty over expertise costs:

The Purge: How the White House Broke the NSC and How to Fix ItDismantling the machinery that coordinates U.S. foreign policy led to disaster, from ill-conceived tariffs to the calamitous war with Iran.www.lawfaremedia.org

@shaneharris.bsky.social’s reporting confirms what @michael-feinberg.bsky.social and I wrote last week: retaliating against analysts for speaking truth will lead the U.S. into foreseeable disasters no one was willing to forecast. Our Lawfare piece: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/grad...

CIA Officers Can Sense the Threat WithinA survey reveals concern among the rank and file that Trump-administration meddling is undermining intelligence work.www.theatlantic.com

No contest. Ukraine has the funniest President on Earth:

Early this year, the DNI stood in a Georgia election office while the FBI seized ballots. This is not normal. An intel chief at an evidence scene is a sign of how a DNI run by political operatives can be turned on the President’s enemies. @michael-feinberg.bsky.social (former FBI) & I (former CIA):

Lawfare Daily: What's Happening at ODNI?Unpacking how recent changes at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence impact its mission.www.lawfaremedia.org