Our intelligence services are consumed with battling a new “Axis of Evil.” The updated phrase, first coined in 2002, now refers to Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. This powerful authoritarian alliance is determined to meddle in elections, launch cyberattacks, destabilize and wage wars against America and its allied democracies around the world.
In this context, consider the likelihood that, starting next Jan. 20, sensitive secrets will be viewed by the most notorious national security risk living outside a federal penitentiary.
It sounds like a Hollywood script, but our spy services must contend with this real-life drama if Donald Trump is elected president once again.
President Biden’s campaign and those who served in Trump’s administration must convey to voters that Trump himself represents a national security risk with severe domestic and global ramifications. Even before November’s election, in mid-July 2024, after Trump is officially nominated at the Republican National Convention, he will be entitled to receive intelligence briefings that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) hopes will be “dumbed down.” Schiff is reportedly “concerned about whether Trump could share the information.”
Intelligence agencies were always concerned and took necessary precautions during Trump’s presidency. “Officials were even more cautious about what information they provided Mr. Trump because some saw the president himself as a security risk,” the New York Times reported in 2022, quoting CIA counterintelligence official Douglas London.
That sentiment harkens back to January 2017, when an American intelligence official reportedly warned Israeli officials “that American intelligence agencies believed Russia had ‘leverages of pressure’ over President Donald Trump….The [American] official warned Israel to ‘be careful’ once Trump was inaugurated, adding that it was possible sensitive information shared with the White House and the National Security Council could be leaked to Russians.” Four months later, it actually happened.
If the election were held today, former President Trump would likely win. For the intel community, that means additional complications and distractions as they fight the Axis of Evil against threats that some believe Trump’s victory would accelerate.
This week, former CIA director John Brennan said that if elected, Trump “would give Vladimir Putin the green light to practically swallow Ukraine,” since Trump “can reduce or even stop financial and military aid to the government in Kyiv.”
To date, Trump’s allies, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga), have effectively blocked Ukraine aid. Last month, after Hungarian President Viktor Orbán met with Trump, Orbán told state television that Trump had said he “will not give a penny into the Ukraine-Russia war and therefore the war will end.” Brennan believes “that will encourage Putin to look hungrily at the rest of Europe.”
Trump’s enigmatic and decades-long Russia connection continues to amaze. NATO is taking extra precautions now that Trump has said Russia should be able to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO members who don’t meet their defense spending targets.
The good news for Trump is that U.S. presidents don’t need security clearances. In November 2016, if not for Trump’s “President-elect” title, “citizen” Trump would have been denied a security clearance due to his extensive long-term business dealings with Russian oligarchs. In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. famously said, “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” and, “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
No wonder CIA officials saw President Trump “as a security risk.” For anyone not named Trump or Jared Kushner, the exhaustive process for obtaining a security clearance begins with the following nine-point list: “Loyalty to the United States, strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and soundness of judgment.” Additionally, “We also make sure you: Are free from conflicting allegiances to other countries. Are not a potential risk for blackmail. Will abide by regulations governing the use, handling, and protection of sensitive information.”
In other words, the next likely commander in chief would probably flunk most of the security criteria required of those who will brief him.
The last listed item, “handling and protecting sensitive information,” is a well-documented Trump violation. There are photos of document pieces flushed down his White House toilet. Staffers were tasked with taping together documents that Trump had ripped and discarded. In 2019, Trump tweeted a sensitive Iranian photo, as if he believed it was his personal property.
Such thinking and behavior are the reason Trump has been charged with a 32-count indictment for violating the Espionage Act. Trump allegedly moved boxes of documents, some with the highest classification, to his Mar-a-Lago residence and refused to return them as required by law. (A trial date has yet to be set.)
Topping the list of security clearance criteria is “loyalty to the United States.” Does Trump place loyalty to himself above the nation, given his encouragement of supporters to prevent certification of a lawful election on Jan. 6, 2021, for which Trump has also been indicted? What is national loyalty if not a willingness to abide by the Constitution?
Another clearance question asks if one is “free from conflicting allegiances to other countries.” What gets perhaps less attention than Putin is Trump’s active, lucrative business relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the prince’s LIV Golf tournaments, some hosted at Trump courses.
Liz Peek recently asked whether bin Salman might sabotage Joe Biden’s reelection bid by cutting oil production thus raising prices, which would have adverse ripple effects on the U.S. economy. Indeed, the CIA will be watching the Trump-bin Salman connections, which would likely disqualify anyone from obtaining a federal security clearance.
If Trump is elected, the intel community will be fighting the Axis of Evil while reporting to a president known as a security risk, and who habitually disregards intelligence that fails to mesh with or interferes with his personal interests. Flush goes the White House toilet and possibly the nation.
Myra Adams served on the creative team of two GOP presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008.