"Something similar happened when John F. Kennedy was president. He trusted the US intelligence community too much and the latter decided that it could manipulate political power in the country. Nothing of that sort will happen to Trump, but he is being nudged to uncritically perceive any data presented by the CIA," the journalist wrote for Vzglyad.
Trump described the visit as a "great meeting," referring to CIA employees as "amazing people." However, the speech prompted former CIA chief John Brennan to say that he was "deeply saddened and angered at Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement," adding that the US president "should be ashamed of himself."
Had a great meeting at CIA Headquarters yesterday, packed house, paid great respect to Wall, long standing ovations, amazing people. WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 января 2017 г.
Krutikov warned that Trump will have to tackle several challenges when dealing with the US intelligence community. The journalist said that the US president could fall into a trap typical of civilians who "start admiring people in uniform too much."
In this scenario, intelligence agencies cite unnamed sources as a "lock-pick" since policy makers will not check whether such sources exist or if they can be trusted.
"Countless major political decisions were made based on data faked by the intelligence community. The risk that mid-level CIA officials will decide to tweak policies of the new administration, if not manipulate [the Trump team] is considerable," Krutikov said.
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