I’m not going to give up sharing generally hidden information and possible solutions just because it puts a target on my back. I will continue this conversation because we deserve to have this conversation, and the understanding within it.
Additionally, I know that people who matter are watching this conversation. So, to answer some questions:
? Q: “if you had a direct line to the DNI team, what would you move to accomplish in the first 90 days?”
A: The DNI can assemble material from any silo. Meaning the DNI can reach into any IC silo and extract anything they want.
Under the original authorities given to the DNI, this authority exists. So, let’s spread the wings on this office and do exactly what it is permitted to do, only this time extract for the purpose of showing the President what is happening in every silo.
Almost every day an intelligence community overview assessment is compiled, it’s called the Presidential Daily Briefing or PDB.
The PDB contains content primarily produced by the CIA. However, in the modern era, the PDB is assembled and enhanced by adding information from other intelligence agencies (silos). The Director of National Intelligence assembles it; the position Tulsi Gabbard has recently been nominated for.
The DNI (now Tulsi) compiles the information, then delivers the PDB to the President, the National Security Advisor (now Mike Waltz) and the list of people assigned by the President to review it.
The PDB is the Intelligence Community (IC) telling the Office of the President, this is what’s going on. The PDB frames the worldview of the CIA and other agencies.
However, if the CIA/IC wants to frame policy and action to their agenda – and not to the agenda of the president/administration per se’ – the CIA/IC can shape the PDB information toward their own individual objectives. In the past several decades the CIA manipulation of the PDB became obvious.
Because the PDB was no longer considered to be an “independent” finding of fact, and was/is, instead, more of a CIA tool to shape and control the president, it became increasingly useless.
President Obama saw the traps within the CIA/IC use of the PDB and started to ignore it. Obama gave the PDB to almost two-dozen administration officials daily, essentially saying, “here this is what the CIA say is going on – check it out.” Meanwhile Obama did what he wanted to do in shaping policy, often regardless of the PDB content.
With an incoming President Trump administration, the CIA/IC use of the PDB to manipulate outcomes will be even more on display. With that in mind, here’s one approach that might be worth considering.
Make the CIA/IC (now Ratcliffe/Tulsi) provide a footnote for every assertion of fact within the PDB.
Put the footnotes into a classified appendix that includes sources and methods and give the appendix only to the National Security Advisor, now Mike Waltz. [ie. ‘Review and return’]
Let NSA Mike Waltz then review the attributions of source material in the White House SCIF. Then, if any concerns are noted, Waltz can turn to the National Security Council with a generalized statement describing the concern saying, “check this out.”
The NSC can then dig into the granular details and return with their own independent assessment about the validity of the information.
The National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, can then go question the specific CIA/IC silo about any contradiction that might be at issue.
Do this enough times, and I predict the PDB will quickly change in both tone and content. The originators of the intelligence assessment, the CIA and other agencies, will be on notice that their homework is being checked by the National Security Council.
In essence, the DNI *CAN BE* deployed like a super strong cross-silo inspector general’s office. Force the other IC silos to comply with the demands of the DNI. This has never been done. But the DNI has this unique power.
The DNI can make the FBI, DOJ, DOJ-NSD, DoD, DoS and CIA provide anything and everything they demand. Instead of the other silos using blocks and threats against the office of the President, use the authority of the DNI to get them without confrontation. Then use the DNI to declassify the documents (if requested by potus), instead of the originating silo.
Can you see how the DNI office can be repurposed to be a seriously strong weapon in the toolbox of the President, against the schemes of those inside the various IC silos. The DNI becomes much more important than the CIA Director, NSA Director, FBI Director, Attorney General, etc, because the DNI can just show up and say, “give me this.” That’s the whole functional purpose of the DNI office that has never been exerted; let’s flippin’ use it.
Let’s use the office of the DNI as the central information hub that takes information from inside the corrupt silos, then provides that information to the President who puts sunlight upon it. Each corrupt silo penetrated with disinfectant. This could begin a process to pull down the shadow operations and let the American public see what has been happening inside our IC apparatus.
To accomplish this approach the National Security Advisor to the President (NSA), would be the person who tells the DNI exactly what they are looking for.
How does the NSA know what to look for? Because the National Security Advisor is the head of the National Security Council (NSC).
Now you see why I say put the strategic scruffy people like in a stripped down NSC.
Let the NSC monitor the silos with specific intent, then provide Trump’s NatSec Advisor with details on what appears to be happening and where.
With the approval of the President, the NSA then turns to the DNI and says, “POTUS wants this, go get this.”
Raw, unfiltered, unredacted information. The silo administrators end up in a fight with the ODNI, not the office of President Trump. President Trump then uses the power of his office to support the demands of the DNI.
Under this approach the DNI has a lot more power; yet funnily, it’s power they already have – yet have never utilized.
? Q: “Could Tulsi Gabbard actually enforce the rules for FISA? That would reduce spying by 95%.”
A: No. The DNI does not have any authority over how FISA is used. That is exclusively a DOJ-National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) decision.
? Q: “Has FISA ever been brought to the Supreme Court?”
A: No. You cannot bring FISA to the Supreme Court. It is not permitted because SCOTUS has ruled the judicial branch *must* defer all national security definitions to the executive branch. Period. End of Story. Understand this conundrum and you understand why this insufferable system continues without restriction.
? Q: “There are some voices here suggesting Gabbard lie her way into confirmation; agree with it all and fight it later. In your opinion, is this realistic, possible, sane, moral etc.?”
A: “In my opinion it is an unrealistic expectation. Whatever Tulsi Gabbard says to the SSCI during confirmation, is what she will be held accountable for. If she later deviates, specifically because of the interests we are discussing here, the Senate (both parties) will impeach her.
Chairman Tom Cotton and Vice-Chair Mark Warner will work together to remove her, if Gabbard flinches or moves one inch outside her senatorial permissions.
? Q: “Can Trump, on his own, end this FISA-702 thing? Can anyone answer this question for me please? Thanking you in advance…God bless America.”
A: Eh, sort of. As a confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi can suspend the FISA process simply by not using the FISA Court. It would be a highly controversial thing to do, but President Trump is well within his “plenary” power to not use the FISA Court, and to use a standard Federal Court for Title-1 surveillance warrants; that can, if needed, be filed under seal. However, stopping the fraud and abuse via searches of the NSA database is another matter entirely.
? Q: “Add an amendment to 702 reauthorization saying any person who is involving an Illegal violation-spying of 702 is penalized with 3 mos in jail …that should stop abuses of 702 yet still keep program alive.”
A: I absolutely agree with a version of this. I have said so before. Any non-compliant access to the NSA database should immediately result in revocation of any/all classified security clearances, and immediate criminal prosecution should take place. Unfortunately, it will be challenging to do; because as IG Horowitz attested, over 10,000 users currently have access to this database across 1,500 workstations. {GO DEEP}
Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified April 27, 2023, that more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government. These search queries were based on authorizations related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Approximately 30% of those 3.4 million search queries were outside the rules and regulations that govern warrantless searches, what the politically correct government calls “non-compliant searches.” That means more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans were illegal and outside the rules.
Additionally, IG Horowitz also admitted that somewhere north of 10,000 federal employees have access to conduct these searches of the NSA database; a database which contains the electronic data of every single American, including emails, text messages, social media posts, instant messages, direct messages, phone calls, geolocation identifiers, purchases by electronic funds, banking records and any keystroke any American person puts into any electronic device for any reason. {READ MORE}
