Trump takes an intensive course from the Ministry of Justice to intelligence agencies

President Donald Trump's declassification order on Thursday night set up a confrontation between his own Justice Department and the intelligence community that could lead to resignations and threaten the CIA's ability to carry out its core business – the management of secret information and sources.

The Trump order ordered intelligence agencies to fully comply with Attorney General William Barr's examination on "surveillance activities" during the 2016 election – an investigation that the Trump's allies see it as a necessary means of pushing the boundaries of government, but that critics lambaste as an attempt to create an impression of scandal. Many former intelligence officials described the move as "unprecedented," saying it gave the prosecutor extensive powers over the nation's secrets, overturning the intelligence community, and raising troubling legal issues.

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"There is nothing, for example, of the CIA or the NSA, but guards more jealous than sources and methods," said Larry Pfeiffer, a 32-year-old intelligence veteran who served as chief of staff of the Director of the CIA, Michael Hayden. "It's not a hyperbole to say that lives are at stake."

"I doubt that one of the [CIA directors] or [directors of national intelligence] with which I worked would have sat in silence if their president contemplated or made such a decision, "added Pfeiffer, also principal director of the White House Hall.

This is the last chapter in the stormy relationship between Trump and his own intelligence community. In the elections, Trump questioned Russia's role in hacking Hillary Clinton's campaign. As president, Trump publicly disagrees with his own intelligence agencies about North Korea's nuclear ambitions, the threat posed by the Islamic State, the situation in Afghanistan and whether the Saudi Crown Prince has ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Both parties have generally settled their differences, but veterans of national security have said that this time may be different.

"I could witness a showdown that would take place here, where the CIA said," We are not comfortable with the declassification of this material and we will not provide it without the assurance that you will not declassify it, "said a former senior justice department official, who served under both Trump and President Barack Obama, and asked for anonymity to discuss the directive more. freely. "They feel that these are their sources, their relationships."

If that happens, Trump's order does not know who will win.

Trump on Friday defended his decision as a step towards transparency that will give the public an overview of the government's damaging activities. And he congratulated Barr as the ideal person to judge what should be released.

Barr is "a great gentleman and a very respected man, so everything they need is declassified and they can see how the hoax or witch hunt began and why it started," Trump told the press before leave for a trip to Japan. "It was a coup attempt, an attempt to dismantle the President of the United States."

Later on Friday, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats issued a carefully worded statement, confirming that his agencies would release "all relevant information" for the DOJ's review. But, Coats added, "I'm confident the Attorney General will work with the [intelligence community] in accordance with long established standards for the protection of highly sensitive classified information which, if made public, would endanger our national security. "

Many veterans of national security have not shared Coats' trust. According to them, Trump's order calls into question these "long established standards" and raises questions about how the government's legal power structure could evolve in the months and years to come.

Under the National Security Law, which seeks to reform the country's military and intelligence structure after the Second World War, intelligence services are legally required to protect the unauthorized declassification of their secret sources and tactics. collection of information. But Trump's directive apparently gave the Attorney General the power to determine what should be declassified, which could have decades of precedent.

"The note from the president actually revises the classification decree and gives the GA the power – previously assigned to the head of the agency responsible for the information – to declassify the information related to the election inquiry, "said Steven Aftergood, expert in classification the project of the Federation of American Scientists on government secrecy.

Although the Ordinance provides that the Directive must not prejudice "statutory authority" to classification officers, it also notes that Mr. Barr should not consult those responsible only "to the extent that it deems it practicable" with respect to declassification decisions.

And if intelligence chiefs and Barr do not agree on what to reveal, Trump retains the last word.

"Does an agency head or the DNI have recourse? Of course – a direct call to the president … or a threat to resign as a result of a bad decision, "said Pfeiffer. "This is not good governance either."

April Doss, who was responsible for intelligence law at the NSA from 2003 to 2016, said she hoped Barr would consult with intelligence community officials and take their advice into account. "But by virtue of this note, he is not obliged to do so," she noted.

And this has created a once unthinkable situation for intelligence professionals: they could lose control of what remains secret.

"I do not remember a time when another official had received the power to declassify intelligence information," said Michael Morell, a former CIA interim director under Obama.

The result, added Morell, is a loss of confidence in the US intelligence system. "This is another step that will raise questions among our allies and partners about whether or not to share sensitive information," he said.

The fact that Barr has asked this new authority from the president, as well as the breadth of the directive, is particularly curious for many veterans and intelligence experts. The memo is aimed not only at the FBI – which Trump has repeatedly accused of having invented a plot to "overthrow" him – but also at the CIA, which fiercely protects its sources and methods. According to a New York Times report, Barr seeks in particular to obtain more information on foreign sources used by the FBI in 2016 by the FBI.

The result is a changing perception of the role of the Attorney General.

Since the Watergate era, the leader of the DOJ has been seen as a legal means of controlling the over-reach of intelligence agencies, said David Kris, former head of the National Security Division of the Justice Department (Obama). ), who also held a senior position in the government under the George W. Bush administration. .

"Now," he added, "many observers have the opposite fear; that the AG, rather than the IC, is the real danger, the real threat to apolitical intelligence under the law. Whether or not this fear is entirely valid, it is extremely worrying as it threatens the foundations of intelligence surveillance that has been protecting us for more than 40 years. "

Steve Hall, former head of the CIA's Russian operations, said Trump's actions would likely have a chilling effect on the government's ability to recruit agents and informants.

The revelation that Stefan Halper, a longtime professor at the University of Cambridge, was used as an FBI informant in 2016, and the special focus on former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele – another long-time source of the FBI – has transformed the intelligence community, and its sources, extremely suspicious.

"Put yourself in the position of considering working for the CIA right now," Hall said. "You will probably want to wait until everything is finished."