Democrats Need to Be Wary of the Intelligence Community and the Forever Wars
February 10th 2020
A Marine with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, Calif., leads a column of Marines (Sergeant Joseph R. Chenelly, United States Marine Corps)
By John Foley
It’s time we stopped this romance between the Democrats and the Intelligence Community. The Intelligence Community is not a friend and it has repeatedly failed America. The Intelligence Community is a large bureaucracy, which operates outside of the US Constitution all the while draining federal resources. The Intelligence Community has never welcomed a democratic administration, and as currently organized it never will, unless serious reform occurs. The annual intelligence budget exceeds $70 billion per year; but despite this enormous investment, there is no evidence these programs are keeping Americans any safer.
Democrats need to be careful how much they glorify and embrace the Intelligence Community. Our Intelligence Community failed miserably to prevent Russian interference, resulting in the greatest intelligence failure in our history. In 2012 the Russian disinformation campaign was well underway, and Department of Defense (DOD) and the Intelligence Community did nothing to stop it. Many people serving in the DoD and the Intelligence Community even participated in social media circles to help it along. Heavily influenced by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and feeding the white supremacist Patriot movement’s resentment of President Obama, our conservative military and Intelligence Community helped spread the social media disinformation. As an intelligence officer working at NORAD, I would see intelligence analysts write reports about strategic Russian military activity, and then off shift see them post on social media pro-Putin memes. Following simple research, I would show and explain to these people how these posts came from Russian sources. Unfortunately, this warning was ignored by military personnel within the Intelligence Community.
Many Democrats now cheer on the current saga of whistleblowers and leakers pervading the Trump administration. Let’s be clear, as an ardent never Trumper, I more than anyone wish to see Trump held accountable for his illegal activities. However, Democrats forget the Intelligence Community leaked similarly against Obama, a total of 315 classified leaks. Most of the Trump leaks are out of the White House. The Intelligence Community is not a friend of the Democrats. We know Obama was extremely unpopular within the DOD community and many members downright hated him for being elected President. A Military Times poll published at the end of the Obama administration showed 51% of service members felt unfavorably towards Obama, and 29% feeling very unfavorable towards Obama. Only 36% of service members gave Obama a favorable rating, with only 18% very favorable.
So, what does this mean for the Intelligence Community? There were no polls recording how the Intelligence Community felt about Obama, but we can assume the Intelligence Community would be much more unfavorable toward Obama. If the DOD unfavorable rating was 51% then the Intelligence Community rating would likely be 70%. Why so high? It's high because, for those of us who have served in the Intelligence Community, we know it is a highly conservative organization, dominated by white males, especially in senior leadership positions. Although women and people of color have made successful inroads in the organization, according to the FY 18 Intelligence Community Annual Demographic Report, the Intelligence Community still remains the least diverse government organization when compared to the Federal workforce and the civilian workforce in general.
The Intelligence Community is supposed to provide timely and pertinent intelligence. They failed miserably in the lead up to 9-11, the War on Terror, the Iraq War, and largely against Iran as well. Its greatest failure must be recognized as the failure to stop the Russian disinformation campaign. They failed to recognize that Putin was throwing down the gauntlet on 10 February 2007 in which Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference. Putin basically declared geopolitical war against the US and its allies. Months before this speech Russia had cyberattacked the NATO ally of Estonia. By 2008 Russia attacked the US ally of Georgia with military forces and cyber warfare. In 2012 the Russian influence campaign was well underway against the US, targeting the evangelical Christians and constitutional patriot militia groups with islamophobia and conspiracy theories about the Federal government. Soon Russia was embedded with the NRA, and using gun-grabbing Obama memes, which led to the fearmongering on the Right about Black Lives Matter. By the time the Intelligence Community Assessment report came out in late 2016, it was too little too late. The Intelligence Community failed in the timely and pertinent test of the intelligence profession. It was too late for President Obama to react.
It's ironic how conservative Trump supporters claim the Intelligence Community is a bastion of the liberal deep state, since the conservatives are the main architects of the current intelligence-security state or “Deep State” as they like to call it. The Intelligence Community grew to gigantic proportions after 9/11 in the name of National Security. The Patriot Act pushed surveillance laws beyond the US Constitution, and now the Intelligence Community could spy on the average American. These same Americans think the Intelligence Community is out catching terrorists, but what they don’t know is the Intelligence Community’s track record for catching terrorists is abysmal.
The conservative Intelligence Community is confused by President Trump, because he is so unpredictable. The Forever Wars in the Middle East have seen the largest ballooning of resources in the history of the Intelligence Community. The annual intelligence budget exceeds $70 billion per year, and yet we know a President Sander or Warren will not tolerate such an expenditure. So just like the massive leaks to undermine the Obama presidency, the Intelligence Community will fight all attempts to reel in its spending or its behavior. They will leak classified information to hamper policy decisions, and to embarrass any new Democratic administration. The Intelligence Community has its own vast power outside the US Constitution, and they are not afraid to use it. If people think the Intelligence Community “Deep State” has turned on Trump, just wait until it turns on a Democratic president. So whichever candidate gets elected, this is your warning: Do not underestimate the power of the Intelligence Community to ruin your presidency.
About the Author:
Lieutenant Colonel John Foley is a retired U.S. Army officer and career Intelligence Officer. He served 27 years in the U.S. military service with both the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army. He had multiple combat deployments to Iraq with the 5th Special Forces, 101st Airborne Division and 1st Cavalry Division. His last duty assignment was with NORAD-USNORTHCOM. He currently lives in Colorado.
References:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/02/us-intelligence-community-bigger-ever-it-worth-it/104799/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/social-media-russian-insider-threat-dod-john-foley/
https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2019/04/leaks-surge/
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2017/02/09/trump-white-house-tries-plug-distressing-number-leaks/
https://www.rferl.org/a/1074671.html
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-us-evangelicals-fueled-rise-russias-pro-family-right/
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/02/us-intelligence-community-bigger-ever-it-worth-it/104799/