Politics

U.S. Spy Agencies ‘Really Worried’ About Second Trump Term: WSJ

‘BREAK THE HOLD’

Current and former intelligence officials fear a second Trump term will see the former president retaliate against America’s spy agencies by carrying out a “deep state” purge.

Then-President Donald Trump speaks at swearing in ceremonies for new CIA Director Gina Haspel at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia, U.S. May 21, 2018.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Current and former senior U.S. intelligence officials are afraid a second Donald Trump term will see the former president retaliate against America’s spy agencies by carrying out a “deep state” purge and ultimately see him use the powerful agencies for his own political purposes, according to a Wall Street Journal report. “Senior people are really worried,” retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA director under Republican President George W. Bush, told the newspaper, adding a prediction that a second Trump administration would try to slash civil service protections and fire perceived enemies at a time when the country is mired in complex geopolitical jousting with China, Russia, and others. “President Trump is committed to returning the intelligence community to its proper constitutional and statutory limits,” Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign official, told the WSJ, insisting his candidate is “committed to break the hold that entrenched interests have over decision-making and exercising the will of the American people.”

Read it at The Wall Street Journal

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.