Daniel Boguslaw
Political interference, mind control, domestic spying, and generally speaking, making America worse (again). These are just some of the many grievances Donald Trump and his allies have leveled against the intelligence community in recent months. They have been repeated on podcasts, on YouTube shows, and at rallies since Trump began a vendetta against spy agencies he says colluded to destroy his 2016 campaign and presidency.
Now, the full scope of Trump’s planned war on the deep state is coming into focus thanks to the president-elect’s nomination of John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard to top intelligence posts.
Taken together, interviews with current and former intelligence officers, a close read of the Project 2025 intelligence playbook, and the biographies of Trump’s top two intel picks reveal a radical, if confused, agenda for member agencies of the U.S. intelligence community. Among the proposals likely to be attempted inside the Central Intelligence Agency are a centralization of control over other agencies, an expansion of covert operations, and a shift from the War on Terror to competition with China.
Intelligence officers who spoke with Rolling Stone say that proposals like centralizing control of intelligence agencies known for infighting, scaling back zombie programs operating with little effect since the Cold War, and tamping down the War on Terror are all logical policies that would streamline agencies’ ability to advance national security.
But given Trump’s steadfast demand for total loyalty over all else, reforms that appear sound on their face have already provoked and enraged agencies bristling at the prospect of the incoming president yanking tight on their leash. “Everyone just wants to be left alone to keep running their operations without interference,” one intelligence officer said.
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