Thursday, February 16, 2017

Michael Flynn And National Security In Trump’s Administration

This interview with foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius of the Washington Post; Kori Schake, former Director on the national security council for George Bush; and former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on NPR is informative. I found these observations very interesting:

Moderator: You have watched these things for a long time. Is this just working out the kinks or do we have a problem here?

Schake: You know, up until a couple days ago my theory of the case was that, this was a messier transition than most but that is was basically going to be a linear process, right? As the cabinet departments got staffed out, that power would migrate away from the most reckless people in the Trump administration, who are the ones in the White house and closest to the president. And responsibility for carrying things out would be done, with increasing competence, by the departments. And I'm beginning to question that, uh, concept of the administration. 

Moderator: Why?

Schake: It may just be, we, this may be what we're in for. It may just be, you know, oscillating, inability to learn from their mistakes, inability to be honest about their vulnerabilities, uh, increasing revelations of very profound compromises of, of, important people in the administration.

Moderator: You're our, you're our conservative, I mean, you're our guest who has worked with Republicans for a long time. Uh, is there, is there, I mean, Republicans on Capitol Hill are saying this is politics, all this complaining is politics. The problem is just the leaks. Everything else is fine, thank you.

Schake: No, that's nonsense. Uh, it, ah, you know, leaks in the American government are a natural act, they're part of the checks and balances of the system. People who feel like formal channels are not taking their concerns into account or people who fear that their government is about to make a really bad choice and haven't considered all of the elements of that. That's when people start talking to the newspapers, that's when people start going to Capitol Hill. Uh. And, so, a smart administration takes the process of leaks as a grade on how they are preforming, not as a threat to their country.

3 comments:

Ally Bean said...

Well, I think we can all agree that this is not a "smart administration" so these leaks are viewed as disloyalty, not grades.

la peregrina said...

Disloyalty? I think they view them as treason. It would be if we lived under a dictatorship but we don't- as some members of the Trump administration do not seem to understand.

Ally Bean said...

You are so right. Of course he sees it as treason.