What are the benefits of making a spy network "private"?
- a private spy network would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies. The plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering “deep state” enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Trump’s presidency.
A spy network reporting directly to the president then?
- It is a direct-action arm, totally off the books, meaning the intelligence collected would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or intelligence community. The whole point is this is supposed to report to the president and Pompeo (CIA director) directly.
The president's spies would be on their own
- The proposals would utilize an army of spies with no official cover in several countries deemed “denied areas” for current American intelligence personnel, including North Korea and Iran.
So is there anything to discuss here?
Are we going to now have intelligence "spooks" roaming the world digging up plots to undermine US presidents? Put your personal biases aside, if any. Realize that once something of this nature becomes part of who-we-are, there will be no going back. Your love or hate for the current president matters little. The future presidential winds of change might be bitter indeed.
And what exactly qualifies as a "deep state enemy"?
Hopefully not me! And hopefully not you.
Well actually now that I'm thinking about it... perhaps it would be better if YOU were considered the president's "deep state enemy", instead of me. There lies the potential problem.
So does this program have the ability to affect ALL of us at some point in time, throughout the entire political spectrum? Right, left or center? If the spooks focus tight on somebody, is that person going to come up dirty??
Finally: do you really think we'll have a choice?
Sadly, I'm not optimistic that we do