The remarks and formal swearing in ceremony are essentially uneventful; however, it is President Trump’s remarks at the conclusion of the swearing in ceremony that will catch the majority of attention from the geopolitical observers and the DC machine. We will break out that part in a different post.
In the interim, here is the swearing in ceremony for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. WATCH:
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On the eve of DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s full senate confirmation vote, President Trump announces his Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), which will be chaired by the former head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, former Gang of Eight member and current CEO of Truth Social, Devin Nunes.
WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump is pleased to announce a distinguished and trusted group of Patriots to serve on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB). These individuals will advise the President on our nation’s most important security challenges and ensure that the Intelligence Community is working to advance the President’s America First agenda. The President’s PIAB appointees represent a broad range of experience and intellect that will help restore integrity to our Intelligence Community. The following individuals have been appointed to the PIAB:
Nominee for the position of the Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI), Tulsi Gabbard, has passed the Senate cloture vote (52-46) ending debate on her confirmation. McConnell and Murkowski voted “yea.” The full senate is likely to take the final confirmation vote on Wednesday, and the traditional outcome should follow the same result as the vote to affirm cloture.
WASHINGTON DC – […] Having secured the support of 52 Senate Republicans, Gabbard, one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees, is on track to be confirmed as the nation’s top intelligence official in the coming days. Forty six Democrats in the chamber voted against Gabbard. Two senators were absent from the vote. (read more)
By the end of this week things could start to get very interesting on the Intelligence Community (IC) front.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is the newest office in the IC system. It was created as an outcome of the Patriot Act and the office represents the pivot point of all IC information flows.
The CIA information is supposed to enter the DNI silo from outside the USA, and the FBI information enters the DNI silo from inside the USA. The combined information is then assembled and becomes part of the National Security Information (NSI) that is available to the Dept of Homeland Security.
The CIA and Intelligence Community working together with Silicon Valley tech teams to develop best in class AI systems, using references from prior nuclear weapon development, “The Manhattan Project.” Huh, what could possibly go wrong. {GO DEEP}
BREITBART – CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Breitbart News last week that President Donald Trump’s administration is considering creating a national laboratory akin to the Manhattan Project to help develop and steer the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“When you talk about AI, one of the things I want to explore is whether we can expand and establish a national laboratory for the development of AI to help the U.S. government leverage emerging technology to make sure American leadership is that,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart News in his first interview as CIA director last week.
[…] Ratcliffe explained the idea for national laboratories dates back to the Manhattan Project, where the U.S. government helped scientists develop nuclear weapons that won World War II for the United States and allied nations. He said the recent announcement from Trump of “Project Stargate,” the half-trillion-dollar initiative to promote AI, could be expanded upon to include more public-private partnerships akin to the Manhattan Project that get the U.S. out in front of the nation’s adversaries on AI.
An interesting interview between Maria Bartiromo and recently confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Within the interview Director Ratcliffe outlines the big picture instructions and direction he has received from President Trump during the second term in office. In essence, the request from President Trump is for all of the IC silo heads to begin completely removing the elements of political manipulation from within the operations they are now going to lead.
To accomplish the goal, the ultimate goal, President Trump has instinctively told the incoming IC administrators to regain trust through transparency. This approach is not only to regain the trust of the American people, but also -importantly- to regain the trust of President Trump’s office, which has -obviously- been targeted by the same IC silos the new cabinet members are charged to steer. This is a critical approach. Do not filter information, just provide the sunlight upon the information as assembled.
In alignment with Vice-President JD Vance’s recent comments on the issue, Ratcliffe notes this was one of the primary reasons he quickly released the CIA assessment on the Wuhan Lab in China as the most likely origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic virus. While it is far too early to tell how effective Ratcliffe (and others) might be in this new priority goal, at least Ratcliffe outlines the importance of it very well. WATCH:
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As CTH previously noted, much of the success in breaking up the Intelligence Community silo operations will fall on the shoulders of National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz.
In fact, the structure of the intelligence information system currently under construction in the Trump White House depends on Waltz successfully organizing the new system. {GO DEEP}
In following the roadmap for the optimal outcome, NSA Mike Waltz has suspended all aides to the National Security Council pending a review of their alignment with the Trump administration. Again, a good and necessary move.
That said, Mike Waltz is likely to make a few mistakes along the road to a rapid reorganization and anyone who does not have trust issues given the nature of what we have witnessed within the IC manipulation of government, would not be honest. However, Waltz is -so far- following a sequential process that will position the National Security Council for the optimal outcome.
The downside to these early moves is that the SSCI is watching this restructuring while simultaneously pending the nomination hearings of DNI Tulsi Gabbard who would also play a vital role in the information flow if the NSC is to get the best information to work with. A historic review of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence shows they support the status quo IC and simultaneously hold power over the IC confirmation positions.
Glenn Greenwald follows the internal workings of the intelligence community apparatus in Washington DC very closely.
In this segment Greenwald accurately puts the changed position of Tulsi Gabbard into context and then outlines why he remains optimistic about her intent at ODNI while reluctantly accepting her likelihood to retain the acceptable baseline of the IC toward FISA-702.
The best-case scenario is that Tulsi Gabbard will retain 702 as a tool yet remove or stop how it is being unlawfully used. Unfortunately, as Director of National Intelligence Gabbard will not have control over the day-to-day use of FISA-702, that job will fall on the shoulders of Pam Bondi.
The DOJ-National Security Division is the place where FISA authorities are deployed. However, the use of the NSA database to conduct unlawful searches of American citizen metadata is the issue where Tulsi Gabbard could gain ammunition to change who has access.
Personally, given the change in position, the fallback position is to hope DNI Tulsi Gabbard moves to curtail the number of people with access to the database and provide demonstrable accountability for any unlawful use of it.
We start this discussion with a note of thanks to the ridiculous democrats and republicans for using the questioning session for AG nominee Pam Bondi, to out themselves on the issue of FISA-702, the unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens. While many will not see it, the timing here is not coincidental.
At the behest of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson has removed House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner from his position.
Mike Turner is no longer Chairman of HPSCI. This is a big loss for the Deep State.
Remember also, that President Trump had previously announced an intelligence advisory board headed by Devin Nunes {SEE HERE}.
In addition to his manipulative support for Ukraine, in December of 2023 Chairman Turner lied about his FISA-702 renewal having support from Devin Nunes and John Ratcliffe {LINK}. Mike Turner was not aligned with the MAGA priorities of liberty.
ASSOCIATED PRESS – […] Johnson told reporters late Wednesday that Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, would no longer lead the committee, which oversees the nation’s intelligence agencies and holds tremendous influence over law enforcement and foreign policy. During Trump’s first term, the committee became a hotbed of partisanship as its powers were used to assist the then-president. Johnson last year also gave two Trump allies highly-sought spots on the panel.
Johnson said he made the decision to remove Turner because the “intelligence community and everything related to (the committee) needs a fresh start.” The Republican speaker, who has aligned himself closely with Trump, said he would soon announce the new chair for the committee. (link)
Mike Turner told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that Johnson had cited “concerns from Mar-a-Lago” as the reason for the decision.
We are not going to give up sharing generally hidden information and possible solutions just because it puts a target on our back. We will continue this conversation because we deserve to have this conversation, and the understanding within it. Additionally, we know that people who matter are watching this conversation. So, to answer some questions:
♦ Q: “if you had a direct line to the DNI team, what would you move to accomplish in the first 90 days?”
A: The DNI can assemble material from any silo. Meaning the DNI can reach into any IC silo and extract anything they want.
Under the original authorities given to the DNI, this authority exists. So, let’s spread the wings on this office and do exactly what it is permitted to do, only this time extract for the purpose of showing the President what is happening in every silo.
Almost every day an intelligence community overview assessment is compiled, it’s called the Presidential Daily Briefing or PDB.
The PDB contains content primarily produced by the CIA. However, in the modern era, the PDB is assembled and enhanced by adding information from other intelligence agencies (silos). The Director of National Intelligence assembles it; the position Tulsi Gabbard has recently been nominated for.
The DNI (now Tulsi) compiles the information, then delivers the PDB to the President, the National Security Advisor (now Mike Waltz) and the list of people assigned by the President to review it.
The PDB is the Intelligence Community (IC) telling the Office of the President, this is what’s going on. The PDB frames the worldview of the CIA and other agencies.
However, if the CIA/IC wants to frame policy and action to their agenda – and not to the agenda of the president/administration per se’ – the CIA/IC can shape the PDB information toward their own individual objectives. In the past several decades the CIA manipulation of the PDB became obvious.
The operators inside the FBI silo are stunned about the announcement that Kash Patel “will serve as” the next FBI Director. Conspicuously, their primary conduits for narrative pushback, The New York Times and Politico, are rather docile with only one article in each online publication.
Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked earlier today for a White House reaction to the announcement. Here’s the short segment about that issue. WATCH:
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“What makes the F.B.I. director different from most other nominees is they’re not just appointed for one term of a president,” Mr. Sullivan said. “They’re appointed for enough time to last past two terms of a president, because they’re supposed to be insulated from politics.” ~ Jake Sullivan