
© Alex Edelman/PAFormer US Foreign Policy Advisor, John Bolton
Why so many titans of intelligence were willing to risk their hard-won credibility is deeply mysterious.On Monday, in one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump
defrocked 50 high priests of U.S. national security. Now deprived of their clearances, if they want to know what's happening in the world, they are reduced, like the rest of us, to reading the newspaper, and waiting for the president to blurt out nuclear codes over brunch at Mar-a-Lago. Once out of government, these former officials usually keep their clearances so they can return to government, or to civilian contracting work that involves government secrets, without friction, and so they can learn secrets and give advice informally. Removing these clearances is petty and personal. But it is Trump's decision to make, and in a week of wacky and unexpected executive orders, it is one of the easier to defend.
The order singled out former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton for special dishonor. Trump accused Bolton of making money by publishing a memoir "for monetary gain" before the intelligence community could scrub his text of classified material. In a separate and remarkably spiteful action, Trump rescinded Secret Service protection for Bolton, former Trump State department official Brian Hook, and former Secretary of State and CIA director, Michael Pompeo. The FBI has accused Iran of trying to kill all three men. Trump often expresses his distaste for those who tried to give direction and discipline to his first term. It is nonetheless shocking to see him come to power and, as one of his first acts, ensure that if Iranian assassins wish to take out his former advisers, they'll soon have a cleaner shot. Americans who work in national security assume that the government will protect them against vengeance from terrorists, no matter what. They now have reason to believe that this protection is a conditional perk, like a nice parking space, that can be taken away for talking smack on CNN.
Comment: There is no downside or grand punishment for crimes to humanity when self-proclaimed nations of privilege consider themselves above international law.