The major aftershock from last night's forum appears to be that intel officials are super-pissed off at Trump. https://t.co/Z0hJJSzEav
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) September 8, 2016
Granted that mid-level professionals in every industry tend to regard the ever-changing “suits” at the top of their hierarchies as seagulls (fly in/squawk&shit/disappear):
As U.S. officials cast doubt on Donald Trump’s claim he read the “body language” of intelligence officials at a recent briefing, NBC News has learned exclusive details of what unfolded in the room — one of Trump’s advisers repeatedly interrupted the briefers until Chris Christie intervened, sources with knowledge of the briefing said…
Timothy Barrett, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence, declined to comment Thursday on Trump’s characterization.
However, a U.S. official pointed out that intelligence officers don’t give policy advice, so it would be inaccurate to say that Obama failed to follow the advice of the intelligence community. A second U.S. official said analysts are trained not to allow their body language to betray their thinking.
Meanwhile, four people with knowledge of the matter told NBC News that one of the advisers Trump brought to the briefing, retired general Mike Flynn, repeatedly interrupted the briefing with pointed questions.
Two sources said Christie, the New Jersey governor and Trump adviser, verbally restrained Flynn — one saying Christie said, “Shut up,” the other reporting he said, “Calm down.” Two other sources said Christie touched Flynn’s arm in an effort get him to calm down and let the officials continue. Requests for comment from Flynn and Christie were not immediately returned…
There were fewer than 10 people in the room at Trump’s briefing, and all the briefers were career intelligence officials, including both military officers and civilians, U.S. officials told NBC News. A former senior intelligence official said the briefing team is always the same for both presidential candidates. None were political appointees, and none were among the team that briefs President Obama daily. The names of the briefers have not been made public…
Current and former U.S. intelligence officials who asked that their names not be disclosed told NBC News that many members of the current intelligence community — leadership rank and file — were angered by Trump’s comments Wednesday night, and the possibility that he may have disclosed details of his intelligence briefing or attempted to politicize it.
Former CIA and NSA director Mike Hayden, who opposes Trump, told NBC News that in almost four decades in intelligence “I have never seen anything like this before.”
“A political candidate has used professional intelligence officers briefing him in a totally non-political setting as props to buttress an argument for his political campaign,” said Hayden. “And his political point was actually imputed to them, not even something they allegedly said. The `I can read body language’ line was quite remarkable. … I am confident Director Clapper sent senior professionals to this meeting and so I am equally confident that no such body language ever existed. It’s simply not what we do.” …
Shorter: “Shut the fuck up, Donny.”
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