[U] Off Topic -- But I Cannot Remain Silent: The Abject Failure Of 45's "Leadership" -- Prior To His Inaugural, Even

UPDATED: 01.06.2017 @ 9 AM EST -- This was expected, at least by me. Woolsey is a solid intel policy wonk. So, a consensus intel report is soon to be released in DC -- in which the operatives of the Russian government thought responsible for the DNC e-mail leaks (and for the ultimate transfer to Julian Assange) will be named. And so, the man the President-elect had tapped to run his national security portfolio for him has. . . resigned, even prior to the inaugural. Amid tension over the president-elect’s vision for intelligence agencies, R. James Woolsey Jr. said he did not want to "fly under false colors. . . ." Expect to see more of this, as true patriots stand to be counted. [End, updated portion.]

True -- I did fiddle with my masthead overnight (see thumbnail at bottom), and in truth, I have had Senator McCain's hearings on in the background all day, in the office. [It has been over a decade since I ran a blog that touched on national security matters. Even so, I cannot just look the other way at key moments, in our republic's history, on this topic. We may disagree about certain matters of national security and methods of gathering intelligence, but we should never disparage the patriotism of our intelligence officers, in Langley, Virginia -- or in the field.]

That said, I thought this would all have sorted itself out, by now. But it has not. Director Clapper is right: "A dose of skepticism is healthy. But disparagement -- is not."

The notion that the incoming President would take a Wiki-Leaker at his word, alone -- when it is painfully obvious that said Wiki-Leaker cannot even credibly guess at who might have been the conduit through which he received the DNC e-mails, is in itself jaw-slacking.

But it is quite-nearly treasonous for 45 do do so, in the face of unbiased, credible, and consensus views of our entire intelligence community -- those with assets deployed across the globe -- with access to many more sources and methods than Julian Assange would ever have, as a simple "drop-ship point" -- for what were almost certainly Russian government sourced bulk e-mail deliveries.

Let me say that again -- the incoming President is inclined to take the word of a "drop ship recipient" of a hack -- a man holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, working alone -- INSTEAD of the CIA, FBI and NSA. [Where on Earth is 45's patriotism?]

In this matter, the notion that 45 would continue to give V. Putin any "benefit of the doubt" is. . . disgusting. Senator McCain (a man whose other politics I've long disagreed vehemently with -- but a man whose patriotism is absolutely beyond reproach) would be right to call that wrong-headed enough to be "treasonous". Here endeth the sermon.

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