by Eric Zuesse, The Duran:
Trump appointed Tulsi Gabbard to provide his daily intelligence brief (President’s Daily Brief, or “PDF) — the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) does that, and Trump chose her for this crucial post, but she has not yet become confirmed by the U.S. Senate. (Today, January 25th, the Secretary of ‘Defense’, Pete Hegseth, another “controversial” pick by Trump, was confirmed in a 50-50 tie vote, with V.P. Vance providing the crucial 50th Yes vote.)
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
However, Tump’s public statements as President thus far in his second term, have been so ludicrously ignorant of essential historical facts and current news-reporting from proven-reliable reporters and even from relevant official statements by the relevant Governments, so as to raise the question of what information he is getting in his daily intellikgence brief, and who is providing it to him.
On January 25th, the great geostrategic analyst Alexander Mercouris (who has rare total-recall memory and also first-rate logical-analytical skills to integrate the vast information he brings to bear on every detail he discusses in his daily videos) headlined “Trump Threats Backfire; Moscow: Trump Bluffing, Hardens Stance; China Saudi Ignore Trump Calls”, and provided essential information from open sources, which pertains directly to what the U.S. President’s daily intelligence brief OUGHT to be bringing to his attention. If whomever is now providing the daily intelligence brief, is NOT including to Trump the crucial information that Mercouris is here presenting, then I would not consider that person to be doing an adequate job, because Mercouris’s analysis makes clear that Trump is atrociously misinformed about very important matters that a U.S. President needs to know and truthfully understand. His ignorance and misinformation is dangerous. As Mercouris makes clear, Trump tragically starts his second term ignorant of, and confusingly misrepresenting, crucial facts.
On January 20th, the White House listed the individuals who are the temporary stand-ins until Trump’s appointees will obtain Senate approvals, and here is that complete list:
Gary Washington
Secretary of Agriculture
Jeremy Pelter
Secretary of Commerce
Robert Salesses
Secretary of Defense
Mark Averill
Secretary of the Army
Terence Emmert
Secretary of the Navy
Gary Ashworth
Secretary of the Air Force
Denise Carter
Secretary of Education
Ingrid Kolb
Secretary of Energy
Dorothy Fink
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Benjamine Huffman
Secretary of Homeland Security
Matthew Ammon
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Walter Cruickshank
Secretary of the Interior
James McHenry
Attorney General
Vincent Micone
Secretary of Labor
Lisa Kenna
Secretary of State
David Lebryk
Secretary of the Treasury
Judith Kaleta
Secretary of Transportation
Todd Hunter
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
James Payne
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Everett Woodel
Administrator of the Small Business Administration
Matthew Vaeth
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Stacey Dixon
Director of National Intelligence
Juan Millan
United States Trade Representative
Thomas Sylvester, Jr.
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Charles Ezell
Director of the Office of Personnel Management
Stephen Ehikian
Administrator of General Services
Michelle King
Commissioner of Social Security
Brian Driscoll
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Jason Gray
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
Janet Petro
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Caleb Vitello
Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Though the FBI and the CIA (two of the 17 intelligence agencies that the DNI oversees) were listed there, the DNI itself — Director of National Intelligence — was not. So, we have no ideal regarding the identity of the person who is currently performing this essential function.
As Government Executive magazine pointed out regarding the list, “With one exception, the temporary leaders are career officials.” “Federal agencies will be led in the interim almost exclusively by career federal executives, with Trump only bringing in one individual — the interim head of the General Services Administration — from outside government to serve as a temporary chief.” Probably, whomever the DNI stand-in is now would be a veteran of the existing Office of the DNI (called ODNI”).
In any case, I would assume that Tulsi Gabbard (whom the Deep State, America’s billionaires, probably overwhelmingly want not to be approved) doesn’t yet even have the security clearance in order to provide the PDF. So, let us hope that if and when she does become the DNI, she will do as good a job of summarizing and analyzing for the President the latest clasified information, as Mercouris does publicly analyzing the latest public information.
