Loose Lips

CNN broke a very important and troubling story yesterday morning (link here) -- the CIA extracted a high level spy from inside the Russian government in 2017 out of fear that Donald Trump and his administration's repeated mishandling of classified intelligence could expose the clandestine operative.

Per the linked article, the spy was removed by exfiltration. "An extraction, or 'exfiltration' as such an operation is referred to by intelligence officials, is an extraordinary remedy when US intelligence believes an asset is in immediate danger."

Wow. The American President is so reckless the CIA cannot trust him with one of our country's most important secrets.

This doesn't mean that Trump would deliberately tell Russia about the spy, but it does say that he's at least so incautious that he couldn't be trusted to keep a life-or-death secret. Given that Trump blurted out top secret intelligence during his May 2017 meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister and ambassador without permission from the source, the CIA's concern is certainly understandable.

But it also suggests something much darker: that the CIA knows of other incidents about Trump's recklessness with intelligence and/or contacts with Russia that have not been exposed by the media. These unknown reasons may be partly or primarily the reason they pulled the spy.

All the more reason Trump must not be re-elected next year. He's downright dangerous to national security.