WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his choice for the next US spy chief as someone who could “rein in” intelligence agencies that “have run amok,” fuelling concerns Trump seeks assessments that support his own views.
Trump’s choice of Republican Representative John Ratcliffe of Texas as the next director of national intelligence, has been greeted with scant enthusiasm by his fellow Republicans and charges by former intelligence officials and Democrats that he is unqualified and will frame intelligence to suit the president.
Ratcliffe, a member of the House Intelligence Committee for six months, would replace Dan Coats, whose judgments on Iran, North Korea and Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections clashed with Trump’s views, earning the president’s disdain.
Returning to the White House from an appearance in Virginia, Trump on Tuesday said Ratcliffe “is going to do an incredible job, if he gets approved” by the Senate.
“I think we need somebody like that in there,” he continued. “We need somebody strong that can rein it in. Because, as I think you’ve all learned, the intelligence agencies have run amok. They have run amok.”
Trump denied he had a “conflict” with Coats, saying he was “a friend of mine” and a “terrific person.” But, he added, “Dan made statements and they were a little confused.”
Trump repeatedly has criticised the US intelligence community since taking office, questioning its conclusions that Russia’s election interference was aimed at boosting Trump’s candidacy over that of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Coats has defended the assessment, while Ratcliffe has denied there was evidence of Russian interference, accused the FBI of pursuing a biased investigation and echoed Trump’s baseless charge that the Obama administration spied on his campaign.
In January, Trump attacked Coats and other intelligence agency chiefs on Twitter after they told Congress that Iran was adhering to the 2015 pact designed to block its development of a nuclear bomb and North Korea was unlikely to comply with Trump’s demand that it eliminate its nuclear arsenal.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an email that, “The men and women of our intelligence community deserve our thanks and support, not more baseless attacks.”
“It’s striking how the president so often seems completely incapable of viewing matters of intelligence and national security through any lens but his own political wellbeing,” Warner added. — Reuters
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