"The Deep State" aka the American Intelligence Community

[old salt]

Buried in this lengthy CNN (hardly a sympathetic venue) transcript are some interesting observations by Generals Clapper & McChrystal who oversaw & promoted Flynn.

Also a revealing assessment of his time heading up DIA, which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms. ...so much for the value of speaking truth to power. Vindmann, of course, was a hero.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... sr.01.html

SCIUTTO: Now a three-star general, Flynn would lead the Defense Department's intelligence branch, with a mission to provide Intel directly to troops and commanders on the battlefield, and to policymakers.

CLAPPER: There was no doubt in my mind that Mike would exceed all expectations, and he did.

SCIUTTO: James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence at the time, hired Flynn despite perhaps even because of Flynn's past criticism of U.S. intelligence.

CLAPPER: I brought Mike to ODNI to fix all the intelligence issues that he had been complaining about.

SCIUTTO: Did you have any reservations tapping him for the DIA?

CLAPPER: Mike had a reputation for being an innovator, somebody who questioned the system, perhaps resort to unconventional ways of getting things done.

SCIUTTO: Flynn moved immediately to shake up a sprawling agency with more than 16,000 employees.
Tell me about your experience with him there.

HOWK: He came in, ready to make changes.

SCIUTTO: Jason Howk who served with Flynn and General McChrystal in Afghanistan, was now working at the DIA as well.

HOWK: He got active. He had 15 or 20 things that he wanted to change.

SCIUTTO: But not everyone in the agency welcomed Flynn's changes.

KITFIELD: He tried to instill a much more of a wartime footing, sending analysis out into the field. He had gotten a lot of pushback from that. And a lot of those people, the bureaucrats in Washington didn't want to go overseas and serve in war zones.

SCIUTTO: Flynn came into immediate contact with the White House. Sounding the alarm on the war on terror, as the Obama administration was trying to wind it down.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan is winding down. Al Qaeda has been decimated.

SCIUTTO: Flynn vehemently disagreed with that assessment and grew concerned that U.S. intelligence on the terror group was being watered down.

KITFIELD: And he was very, very upset about that. He called that the big lie.

FLYNN: That is a shortcoming, a major shortcoming.

SCIUTTO: Once again, Flynn did not hesitate to share his criticisms in public, outside the chain of command.

JIM INHOFE, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: Is Al Qaeda on the run and on the path to defeat?

CLAPPER: They are not.

KITFIELD: The White House would black out whole passages of his testimony and he would go up there and give it any way.

SCIUTTO: Inside the intelligence agencies, some grew concerned that Flynn's position sometimes contradicted the facts and the intelligence. Flynn facts, they called them.

People talked about Flynn facts. You heard this expression.

CLAPPER: I was hearing from more than one source in DIA about what became Flynn facts. That concerned me.

SCIUTTO: Can you give me an example?

CLAPPER: I think he was convinced the Iranians were behind the Benghazi attack, which they weren't. At least we had no evidence of that. But he insisted that we would find evidence to back up that proposition.

SCIUTTO: The increasingly infamous Flynn facts became one symptom of broader concerns about Flynn's leadership at DIA.

DOUGLAS WISE, RETIRED SENIOR CIA OFFICER: Flynn started to manifest some of the more controversial behaviors that ultimately played out on the national stage.

SCIUTTO: Doug Wise came to work at the DIA in 2014 as the agency's deputy director. Inside the DIA, Flynn was becoming a divisive figure.

WISE: It was a polarized agency. There was a loyal and hard core cadre of officers that were aligned behind Mike Flynn. And there was a larger and equally passionate group of leaders and followers who were not aligned behind Flynn.

SCIUTTO: When did you first begin to believe it wasn't working?

CLAPPER: I think it was a gradual thing. I began to hear things from people in DIA and people whose judgment I trusted and valued, that there were problems.

SCIUTTO: What kind of problems?

CLAPPER: Well, it had to do with Mike's management style. And I was concerned about the impact on the workforce.

SCIUTTO: Just two years into a three-year term, Flynn was out, forced into an early retirement.

CLAPPER: We had a wonderful retirement ceremony for Mike.

FLYNN: Many know that I like to surf, and so the way I kind of would like to put it is that, you know, life is -- life is like surfing a wave. You can't change the way the wave breaks, but you can certainly change the way you ride it.

SCIUTTO: For the soldier's soldier and self-proclaimed maverick, his 33-year military career was over.

[CU77]

Too bad Flynn blew it all up by committing a felony (and swearing under oath that he did indeed commit that felony).

Not the guy I want in charge of national security. Why you think that was a good idea is absolutely beyond me.

[Kismet]

Buried in this lengthy CNN (hardly a sympathetic venue) transcript are some interesting observations by Generals Clapper & McChrystal who oversaw & promoted Flynn.

Also a revealing assessment of his time heading up DIA, which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms. ...so much for the value of speaking truth to power. Vindmann, of course, was a hero.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... sr.01.html

SCIUTTO: Now a three-star general, Flynn would lead the Defense Department's intelligence branch, with a mission to provide Intel directly to troops and commanders on the battlefield, and to policymakers.

CLAPPER: There was no doubt in my mind that Mike would exceed all expectations, and he did.

SCIUTTO: James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence at the time, hired Flynn despite perhaps even because of Flynn's past criticism of U.S. intelligence.

CLAPPER: I brought Mike to ODNI to fix all the intelligence issues that he had been complaining about.

SCIUTTO: Did you have any reservations tapping him for the DIA?

CLAPPER: Mike had a reputation for being an innovator, somebody who questioned the system, perhaps resort to unconventional ways of getting things done.

SCIUTTO: Flynn moved immediately to shake up a sprawling agency with more than 16,000 employees.
Tell me about your experience with him there.

HOWK: He came in, ready to make changes.

SCIUTTO: Jason Howk who served with Flynn and General McChrystal in Afghanistan, was now working at the DIA as well.

HOWK: He got active. He had 15 or 20 things that he wanted to change.

SCIUTTO: But not everyone in the agency welcomed Flynn's changes.

KITFIELD: He tried to instill a much more of a wartime footing, sending analysis out into the field. He had gotten a lot of pushback from that. And a lot of those people, the bureaucrats in Washington didn't want to go overseas and serve in war zones.

SCIUTTO: Flynn came into immediate contact with the White House. Sounding the alarm on the war on terror, as the Obama administration was trying to wind it down.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan is winding down. Al Qaeda has been decimated.

SCIUTTO: Flynn vehemently disagreed with that assessment and grew concerned that U.S. intelligence on the terror group was being watered down.

KITFIELD: And he was very, very upset about that. He called that the big lie.

FLYNN: That is a shortcoming, a major shortcoming.

SCIUTTO: Once again, Flynn did not hesitate to share his criticisms in public, outside the chain of command.

JIM INHOFE, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: Is Al Qaeda on the run and on the path to defeat?

CLAPPER: They are not.

KITFIELD: The White House would black out whole passages of his testimony and he would go up there and give it any way.

SCIUTTO: Inside the intelligence agencies, some grew concerned that Flynn's position sometimes contradicted the facts and the intelligence. Flynn facts, they called them.

People talked about Flynn facts. You heard this expression.

CLAPPER: I was hearing from more than one source in DIA about what became Flynn facts. That concerned me.

SCIUTTO: Can you give me an example?

CLAPPER: I think he was convinced the Iranians were behind the Benghazi attack, which they weren't. At least we had no evidence of that. But he insisted that we would find evidence to back up that proposition.

SCIUTTO: The increasingly infamous Flynn facts became one symptom of broader concerns about Flynn's leadership at DIA.

DOUGLAS WISE, RETIRED SENIOR CIA OFFICER: Flynn started to manifest some of the more controversial behaviors that ultimately played out on the national stage.

SCIUTTO: Doug Wise came to work at the DIA in 2014 as the agency's deputy director. Inside the DIA, Flynn was becoming a divisive figure.

WISE: It was a polarized agency. There was a loyal and hard core cadre of officers that were aligned behind Mike Flynn. And there was a larger and equally passionate group of leaders and followers who were not aligned behind Flynn.

SCIUTTO: When did you first begin to believe it wasn't working?

CLAPPER: I think it was a gradual thing. I began to hear things from people in DIA and people whose judgment I trusted and valued, that there were problems.

SCIUTTO: What kind of problems?

CLAPPER: Well, it had to do with Mike's management style. And I was concerned about the impact on the workforce.

SCIUTTO: Just two years into a three-year term, Flynn was out, forced into an early retirement.

CLAPPER: We had a wonderful retirement ceremony for Mike.

FLYNN: Many know that I like to surf, and so the way I kind of would like to put it is that, you know, life is -- life is like surfing a wave. You can't change the way the wave breaks, but you can certainly change the way you ride it.

SCIUTTO: For the soldier's soldier and self-proclaimed maverick, his 33-year military career was over.

Delusional becomes you. You have the Deep state mumbo jumbo backwards. Flynn did it all to himself trying to cover up his dealings with Turkey and IMHO covering for DOPUS and Jared with the Rooskies.

[MDlaxfan76]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

[foreverlax]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

[old salt]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

[old salt]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

If you look at what Flynn told Congress, in hindsight, he was right. He had the guts to "speak truth to power".
This is why our IC & the national security blob continue to make the same mistakes.
When an innovator, with operational experience sticks his head up, the entrenched bureaucrats in DC hammer him down.

[foreverlax]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

So all this trolling and triggering is for entertainment....another joke I don't see as funny.

[MDlaxfan76]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

Nope, he's advocating for a coup. That's Flynn's character, that's his legacy. "Lock her up" wasn't a one off.

You want to believe Trump's not serious? Just going for more fundraising? Maybe...and that's indeed HIS character...but the reporting is that he's actually serious, as are Powell, Flynn, and Byrne...they may be delusional, but that doesn't make them not serious.

[MDlaxfan76]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

If you look at what Flynn told Congress, in hindsight, he was right. He had the guts to "speak truth to power".
This is why our IC & the national security blob continue to make the same mistakes.
When an innovator, with operational experience sticks his head up, the entrenched bureaucrats in DC hammer him down.

Baloney...we get it that all you Islam haters, you war of civilizations types, think your view was right and won't ever change.

[old salt]

Flynn did it all to himself trying to cover up his dealings with Turkey and IMHO covering for DOPUS and Jared with the Rooskies.

If "with the Rooskies" you mean his perfectly legal & appropriate outreach, & attempt to reduce the blowback from Obama's unilateral parting shot, then I agree.

As I've said before, when the call was leaked, the Trump Admin should have said, " we don't reply to leaks of classified signals intercepts. If the incoming NSA contacts an Ambassador, that's appropriate & not unusual. "

imho -- Flynn was tripped up by the timing of the leak, when trying to give plausible deniability, on a purely political, not legal issue, to protect Trump, Pence, Jared, Bannon & whoever else was in the loop on the outreach to the "Rooskies".

It was a political communications error.

[old salt]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

So all this trolling and triggering is for entertainment....another joke I don't see as funny.

It's not just for entertainment. It's to keep his base interested, engaged & entertained. To sustain the narrative.

[old salt]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

If you look at what Flynn told Congress, in hindsight, he was right. He had the guts to "speak truth to power".
This is why our IC & the national security blob continue to make the same mistakes.
When an innovator, with operational experience sticks his head up, the entrenched bureaucrats in DC hammer him down.

Baloney...we get it that all you Islam haters, you war of civilizations types, think your view was right and won't ever change.

That's the same head in the sand obtuseness that yielded 9-11. When they say they intend to kill us, we should take it seriously.

[MDlaxfan76]

Flynn did it all to himself trying to cover up his dealings with Turkey and IMHO covering for DOPUS and Jared with the Rooskies.

If "with the Rooskies" you mean his perfectly legal & appropriate outreach, & attempt to reduce the blowback from Obama's unilateral parting shot, then I agree.

As I've said before, when the call was leaked, the Trump Admin should have said, " we don't reply to leaks of classified signals intercepts. If the incoming NSA contacts an Ambassador, that's appropriate & not unusual. "

imho -- Flynn was tripped up by the timing of the leak, when trying to give plausible deniability, on a purely political, not legal issue, to protect Trump, Pence, Jared, Bannon & whoever else was in the loop on the outreach to the "Rooskies".

It was a political communications error.

"a communications error"...so he lied, repeatedly. Including to the Vice President. "a communications error"

And no, it was not actually appropriate for the call to have been made, especially the undermining of the sanctions. But, sure, totally 'in character' for both Flynn and the hubris of the Trump people...and their desire to continue to play footsie with Putin.

But wait, is it your position that Flynn was ordered by Trump to make the call???

Trump probably didn't tell Flynn to write the op-ed on behalf of Turkey...on the other hand, he was obviously pleased with the 'lock her up' chants.

Sheesh, this guy is a traitor to the Constitution...hard to know for sure what got him so twisted up inside, but he went off the rails quite awhile ago...and IMO the early signs of that were most likely what cost him his job in the Obama Admin.

[MDlaxfan76]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

If you look at what Flynn told Congress, in hindsight, he was right. He had the guts to "speak truth to power".
This is why our IC & the national security blob continue to make the same mistakes.
When an innovator, with operational experience sticks his head up, the entrenched bureaucrats in DC hammer him down.

Baloney...we get it that all you Islam haters, you war of civilizations types, think your view was right and won't ever change.

That's the same head in the sand obtuseness that yielded 9-11. When they say they intend to kill us, we should take it seriously.

On the bold we totally agree.

However, It's the definition of "they" where we totally disagree.

[MDlaxfan76]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

So all this trolling and triggering is for entertainment....another joke I don't see as funny.

It's not just for entertainment. It's to keep his base interested, engaged & entertained. To sustain the narrative.

Nope, these idiots are actually serious...there's no holds barred with this crew, no damage they're not willing to do. Character.

Which is not to say they'll be successful, thank god.

However,

"When they say they intend to kill us, we should take it seriously."

[old salt]

Flynn did it all to himself trying to cover up his dealings with Turkey and IMHO covering for DOPUS and Jared with the Rooskies.

If "with the Rooskies" you mean his perfectly legal & appropriate outreach, & attempt to reduce the blowback from Obama's unilateral parting shot, then I agree.

As I've said before, when the call was leaked, the Trump Admin should have said, " we don't reply to leaks of classified signals intercepts. If the incoming NSA contacts an Ambassador, that's appropriate & not unusual. "

imho -- Flynn was tripped up by the timing of the leak, when trying to give plausible deniability, on a purely political, not legal issue, to protect Trump, Pence, Jared, Bannon & whoever else was in the loop on the outreach to the "Rooskies".

It was a political communications error.

"a communications error"...so he lied, repeatedly. Including to the Vice President. "a communications error"

And no, it was not actually appropriate for the call to have been made, especially the undermining of the sanctions. But, sure, totally 'in character' for both Flynn and the hubris of the Trump people...and their desire to continue to play footsie with Putin.

But wait, is it your position that Flynn was ordered by Trump to make the call???

Trump probably didn't tell Flynn to write the op-ed on behalf of Turkey...on the other hand, he was obviously pleased with the 'lock her up' chants.

Sheesh, this guy is a traitor to the Constitution...hard to know for sure what got him so twisted up inside, but he went off the rails quite awhile ago...and IMO the early signs of that were most likely what cost him his job in the Obama Admin.

The political communication error was for Pence, or anyone else, to acknowledge that the call took place. To respond to a classified leak.

The Turkey op-ed way tying up loose ends from a previous (legit) lobbying contract obligation, before he entered govt service.

[foreverlax]

If we didn't know Flynn's character before, we do now. Martial law. Coup.

If you look at his past issues through the lens of his current actions, we can tell who was right about his character all along.

Martial law, coup ...you're gullible enough to swallow this reality tv episode,...hook, line & sinker.
Trump, with Sid & Flynn as characters, is trolling & triggering for the entertainment of his supporters.
Mission Accomplished. You never learn. He's creating his post-Presidency narrative.

Flynn's character ? He strikes back, using the same weapons & tactics that his enemies used against him.
We were lucky to have him in positions where he could make a difference for as long as he did.

So all this trolling and triggering is for entertainment....another joke I don't see as funny.

It's not just for entertainment. It's to keep his base interested, engaged & entertained. To sustain the narrative.

What could be the narrative other than he lost and he is a sore loser?

[SCLaxAttack]

which I had heard about from friends who worked at DIA, who were hopeful that Flynn would bring much needed reforms

Well my friend says that Flynn got was he earned from BHO.

If you look at what Flynn told Congress, in hindsight, he was right. He had the guts to "speak truth to power".
This is why our IC & the national security blob continue to make the same mistakes.
When an innovator, with operational experience sticks his head up, the entrenched bureaucrats in DC hammer him down.

Baloney...we get it that all you Islam haters, you war of civilizations types, think your view was right and won't ever change.

That's the same head in the sand obtuseness that yielded 9-11. When they say they intend to kill us, we should take it seriously.

But when Trump, Flynn, and others talk rerunning elections and martial law they're just kidding. Only to sustain the narrative.

[foreverlax]

Flynn did it all to himself trying to cover up his dealings with Turkey and IMHO covering for DOPUS and Jared with the Rooskies.

If "with the Rooskies" you mean his perfectly legal & appropriate outreach, & attempt to reduce the blowback from Obama's unilateral parting shot, then I agree.

As I've said before, when the call was leaked, the Trump Admin should have said, " we don't reply to leaks of classified signals intercepts. If the incoming NSA contacts an Ambassador, that's appropriate & not unusual. "

imho -- Flynn was tripped up by the timing of the leak, when trying to give plausible deniability, on a purely political, not legal issue, to protect Trump, Pence, Jared, Bannon & whoever else was in the loop on the outreach to the "Rooskies".

It was a political communications error.

"a communications error"...so he lied, repeatedly. Including to the Vice President. "a communications error"

And no, it was not actually appropriate for the call to have been made, especially the undermining of the sanctions. But, sure, totally 'in character' for both Flynn and the hubris of the Trump people...and their desire to continue to play footsie with Putin.

But wait, is it your position that Flynn was ordered by Trump to make the call???

Trump probably didn't tell Flynn to write the op-ed on behalf of Turkey...on the other hand, he was obviously pleased with the 'lock her up' chants.

Sheesh, this guy is a traitor to the Constitution...hard to know for sure what got him so twisted up inside, but he went off the rails quite awhile ago...and IMO the early signs of that were most likely what cost him his job in the Obama Admin.

The political communication error was for Pence, or anyone else, to acknowledge that the call took place. To respond to a classified leak.

The Turkey op-ed way tying up loose ends from a previous (legit) lobbying contract obligation, before he entered govt service.

C&S will love that one....a political communications error would easily explain Bengazi.