This is a Disaster

Couple of brief topics that I didn't want to turn into long threads on Twitter:

1st, Manchester. I'm sure most of you have seen the reports by now that the mayor of Manchester says they're suspending Intel sharing with the US related to the Manchester bombing. The US really dropped the ball on this one - after a terrorist attack, Intel communities around the world share information to quickly assess the damage, the likely suspects and any ties they might have. This is significant, because as has seemingly played out in Manchester, these attack aren't always precipitated by lone wolves. In this case, the name of the bomber was intentionally withheld in foreign media to not tip off members of his cell, which is subsequently exactly what WE did. The threat level was raised to critical as the leaks began coming out of the US media. This is not a coincidence. The threat of rapid response attacks and other means of escalation were very real as members of the cell were made aware that their cover was potentially blown. This kind of reckless handling of intelligence could very well get people killed. The second risk of this is also being made apparent. You've probably also seen the reports that members of this cell and the bombers family were found in Libya. Again, this is significant and makes the counter terrorism professionals job exponentially harder. When cells are compromised, they flee. They are no longer in a relatively isolated area and now we have a much harder job hunting them down, which could potentially lead to more attacks. There is also the overarching concern of the disturbing pattern of the United States beginning to lose trust with our allies when it comes to intel sharing, which is absolutely critical to security at home and abroad.

Next, SF-86. I understand that Russians are apparently the most forgettable people on the planet, but this is a huge deal and needs to be getting more coverage. We know for sure that at least 3 high level associates (Flynn, Kushner and Sessions) have deliberately lied on their SF-86 forms, and in a big way. The forms were all meticulously filled out in extraordinary detail, until it got to the section about foreign contacts. Even then, they were meticulously filled out with one exception: Russia. In all 3 cases. Then Flynn also lied about Turkey on his. For someone that has never filled out one of these forms, I'm not sure I can adequately explain how much detail goes in to these, and how big of a deal they are. These forms are long, they're extremely detailed and even small mistakes (I'm talking "oops I forgot about that traffic ticket" small) lead to the end of careers, revocation of all clearances and potentially perjury charges. Yet we have at least 3 of the top officials in our government that blatantly lied on these forms, and have seemingly suffered no consequences. Yes, Flynn was removed at NSC, but at the time of this writing I believe he still has his clearances. I said before that I think Sessions will be the next one to lose his job, I stand by that. Nobody is buying the, 'oh, I met with the Russian ambassador on multiple undisclosed occasions in my capacity as a Senator' narrative. With that being said, I'll leave you with a question:

How many times does the Attorney General of the United States of America get to perjure himself before there are consequences?