This is a twitter thread DJT Jr wants us to read.
CIA just put out a doc, "Trump—A Unique Challenge," that is inappropriate & contributes to the perception (& at times reality) that elements of the IC are partisan attack dogs against Trump/GOP. Even some current Intel officials are privately characterizing the doc as a hit job.
The IC has enormous issues internal & external that must be addressed if it hopes to restore public trust in its ability to perform its important mission to keep Americans safe. There will always be inherent tension in operating secret orgs in an open/democratic society.
Historically, conservatives have been predisposed to support the NatSec apparatus, while liberals have been more wary. In recent years, that has flipped.
Why? Politics. The Right believes a corrupt NatSec bureaucracy worked to attack & undermine a GOP POTUS that they loathed.
The Left believes that same NatSec bureaucracy tried to save the country from an awful POTUS who was up to no good. Either way, a significant number of Americans now view the IC through a partisan lens. The IC can be indignant, or acknowledge a big problem & deal with reality.
Last year, the IC's career analytic ombudsman found that intel "analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tend to disagree with the [Trump] admin’s policies, saying in effect, I don’t want our intel used to support those policies."
DNI @JohnRatcliffe accurately articulated some of the IC's politicization issues, based on the ombudsman's findings and his (our) personal experience, in a brief but impactful letter to Congress that can be read here: https://www.scribd.com/document/491038048/Ratcliffe-Views-on-Intelligence-Community-Election-Security-Analysis
Numerous former top Intel officials have become intense partisan TV pundits (e.g. JohnBrennan), and others have leveraged their NatSec credentials to influence elections, like this brazen letter designed to discredit the legit Hunter Biden laptop story.
Back to the present, the CIA has published a forty-page account of Trump being a "unique challenge" that many credible people both inside and outside the IC are viewing as an attack on the former and perhaps future President.
Publishing this shows either a profound lack of self-awareness by IC leaders or a wanton disregard for the impact of public trust on their ability to perform their mission. The IC has real issues with internal politics & a big PR problem with a large chunk of the American people.
The IC is in need of some enterprise-wide self-reflection and a dose of humility. And IC leaders need to develop sober, unbiased, unshaded analyses about not only the threats facing the country, but also the IC's own mistakes, problems & shortcomings. US NatSec depends on it.
https://twitter.com/Cliff_Sims/status/1466145357730041859
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276