"In several tweets, as well as an official statement Trump has derided the nation’s intelligence agency as incompetent. His ire stems from the C.I.A.’s conclusion that Russia used cyberattacks to help Trump’s campaign. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of destruction,” the transition team said, in response to the C.I.A. findings. There is no precedent for such a breach between an incoming president and the nation’s national security professionals. “It’s a disturbing set of developments, if only because we’ve been here before,” Thomas writes. “Presidents face a great temptation to go “in-house” for intelligence that fits with their plans; some have even set up formal or informal operations to circumvent the C.I.A. and other agencies. In almost every case, the result has been a disaster — for the president and for the country.”
At www.nytimes.com
