In recent days, President Trump has been speaking with close advisers about getting rid of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, according to Axios and CNN.
Trump’s been irked with Coats for months and has been discussing potential replacements since at least February, according to Axios. An adviser who spoke to Trump about ousting Coats last week told Axios that the move would be “sooner rather than later.”
Trump has also reportedly been talking to advisers about his interest in getting rid of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence altogether.
The relationship between Trump and Coats hasn’t been amicable for some time. Trump grew irritated with Coats when he mocked his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Trump was also irked by Coats in January when he contradicted Trump’s claims about denuclearization efforts in North Korea.
Dan Coats might be next to go pic.twitter.com/xgxClmC63r
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 12, 2019
Again, it doesn’t look like Coats is in the loop.
Has there ever been an administration with more turnover than this one? We’re still only 3 years in and it seems like at least 2/3s of the people who came in at the beginning have been replaced (sometimes multiple times). I don’t have a complete view of the history of past administrations, but that seems ridiculous and just bad for the business of running a government. If the leaders of the departments are shifting every six months or a year, then it’s hard for the rank-and-file to stick with any sort of consistent vision for the office.
Makes sense. If you’re going to have a director of intelligence, doesn’t your administration need some sort of intelligence to direct?
I guess that answers the question about who watches the watchers. Just fire everyone who disagrees with yhou.