Executive Summary

The United States Intelligence Community (USIC) is highly likely to continue facing internal challenges regarding politics as Former President of the United States (FPOTUS) Donald Trump returns to the White House. Among current issues are strained relations, which go back to the previous Trump administration, over issues like the improper use and handling of classified information and receptivity to intelligence briefings, as well as political nominations of loyalist aides without intelligence background or validated experience.

Donald Trump soured the relationship during his first term by supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements regarding the Intelligence Community’s analyses of foreign interference in the presidential elections. Additionally, there was his own compromise of classified information through social media and private meetings. Leaks included the unauthorized disclosure to Russian Official Sergei Lavrov of an Islamic State clandestine source run by a friendly nation’s intelligence service.

Activism against Trump by individuals inside national intelligence agencies also includes the premeditated divulgence of sensitive information with political motivations. Attorney General Jeff Sessions referred to the volume of unauthorized disclosures of classified information as “staggering” and “unprecedented” with the number of internal leaks probes at the federal level tripling their number during the initial months of Donald Trump taking office.