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| A C.I.A. source with access to President Vladimir V. Putin was removed from Russia in 2017. |
(This article can be located here)
The New York Times is a an American Newspaper with international acclaim that covers stories in many different fields like politics, economics, and tech
During President Trump's presidency, the United States lost one of its most important assets against Russia, a CIA informant that was able to closely monitor Vladimir Putin's actions and sent information over to America. Around the time Trump's presidency started the CIA was forced to withdraw the agent "in part" due to Trump's closed door meetings with Putin and mishandling of delicate intelligence.
This extraction has opened a whole other avenue of discussion. Why do we have a president that handles politically sensitive information with ham-hands and is able to frolic unchecked on social media at all times? Trump's use of social media has caused or much embarrassment to himself and also resulted in the spread of hate and misinformation.
In my opinion, if Trump's actions with foreign policy and social media have resulted in an integral source being withdrawn from a country with which we have shakey relations, we need to seriously reconsider who we have let become our president. After all, it was because of this source we know definitively that Russia had interfered in our 2016 elections. (And before people try to ask about the validity of the information, the CIA ordered a full review of the informant's record, so do with that what you will).
As we have learned in class our government is plagued by voter misrepresentation as a result of low voter turnout or simply just uneducated voting. So it is no surprise that we currently have a president with an approval rating of less that 50%. Additionally, I feel the other branches of government ought to punish or even just call Trump out on his potentially dangerous actions. After all the Constitution does have the purpose of "ensu[ring] domestic tranquility" and "provi[ding] for the common defense" of our nation. A president that potentially endangered CIA informants goes against both those values.
What's your opinion about this whole situation coming back into light?
3 comments:
I think that Trump's position in the highest office of the land is definitely dangerous for sensitive information. In this case, however, Trump didn't directly lead to compromising the agent's position. The NYT article cites Russian intervention into the 2016 presidential election as the reason why the CIA asset was being moved to the US, which would have happened whether Trump started colluding with Russia or not (allegedly). In this case, it was simply a matter of geopolitical forces and fears that the agent would be discovered.
At the same time, Trump's incompetence and mishandling of sensitive foreign affairs will be detrimental in the long run. For example, the tariff trade war with China has been harmful to the general economy and hasn't achieved the goals that the administration outlined. Moreover, like you said, the social media presence Trump maintains, especially its proximity to Trump's opinions and reactions on a second-by-second basis, could potentially leak important government information.
I do agree that Trump didn't directly lead to the extraction of the officer, as the informant's extraction and Trump's presidency just happened to be at similar times with not much evidence linking the two. However, like you said Trump's longterm incompetence with foreign affairs and sensitive information will be damaging to America in the future. Trump's closed-door meetings with Russian officials have people worried about potential oversees assets that may be put in jeopardy as a result. With the loss of these informants, we might not even be able to definitively name Russia for crimes they perpetrate against us like we were able to do with the election hacking. And with Trump's mishandling of these foreign affairs, we may lose both allies and make our enemies stronger at the same time.
While the absence of an informant in the Kremlin proposes general uncertainty and anxiety on the Kremlin's next actions, it might just be in our best interests to maintain the absence. As we know, President Trump can, will, and has used sensitive information to his advantage, thus making him a liability to the informant's security in Russia, as well as the United States as a whole. As long as Trump is president, he cannot be trusted with information that can drag the US into a war. In the meantime, the US should stay out of Russia's affairs, unless they provide any sensible reason to intervene. As of right now, I believe that the United States should focus on improving our national security, so that events similar to the Russian hacking scandal doesn't happen again, thus eliminating the need to infiltrate the Kremlin.
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