Spy Agencies to Start Top-Secret Briefings With Trump

Donald Trump may get his first intelligence briefing as early as Thursday, to be followed by a series of top-secret briefings on covert CIA operations and intercepted communications of world leaders. While the briefings are routine for any president-elect, several anonymous officials said the intelligence community was filled with a sense of dread this time around. “I don’t know if there is going to be a tidal wave of departures of people who were going to stay around to help Hillary’s team, but are now going to be, ‘I’m out of here,’” one official told The Washington Post. Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly ignored advice from intelligence officials and made a point to demonstrate his disdain for the intelligence community as a whole, prompting many officials to approach the new reality with fear and concern. While Trump has already attended two preliminary briefings, he wasn’t given any highly sensitive information at that time.