Saturday, January 7, 2017

Former CIA Director resigns from Trump transition team; another signal of trouble ahead.

Phillip Rucker, of the Washington Post, has reported that former CIA Director (from 1993 to 1995) R. James Woolsey, Jr. has resigned as a senior adviser to the Trump transition team.   His stated reason is "growing tensions over Trump's vision for intelligence agencies."

Woolsey is considered one of the nation's leading intelligence experts, having served in four different presidential administrations (Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton).   According to Rucker's reporting, Woolsey "has been excluded in recent weeks from discussions on intelligence matters with Trump and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the incoming White House national security adviser. . . .  Consequently he has become increasingly uncomfortable lending his name and credibility without being consulted."  The final straw seemed to be reports that Trump is considering revamping the intelligence framework.

Uh huh.   Lots of people were predicting that Gen. Flynn -- the one Trump does seem to be influenced by -- was going to be trouble.   He is opinionated, doesn't listen to other people, and has a terrible reputation for poor working relationships.    He's also one of the Trump people with Russian connections, having been a paid speaker at a gala event in Moscow at which he sat next to Putin some years ago.

Stay tuned.

Ralph

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