Editor,
As a former Naval Intelligence officer, I am concerned with the Administration’s adverse impact on our national security.
It appears Trump campaign aides, including former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, contacted Russian officials during the Presidential election, and this might have compromised our democratic election process. Flynn was forced to resign because of his contact with the Russians.
An organizational change imposed by Trump is the appointment of Stephen Bannon, an extremist right wing political advisor. to the National Security Council (NSC). This could adversely impact military decisions and delay our responses to military threats because Bannon does not have any knowledge of military affairs and he could intervene with NSC decision-making processes.
Trump continuously accuses our intelligence agencies of leaking classified information to the press, and he has berated our intelligence agencies for the poor intelligence on Iraq’s military arsenal under Saddam Hussein.
We need our intelligence agencies to alert our military, the Trump Administration, and Congress on the status of adversarial governments and their military capabilities, deployments and threats. The security of our country could be in jeopardy due to the disruptive tactics and blame game used by the Trump Administration against our intelligence agencies.
Donald Moskowitz
Londonderry, NH