ABOUT THOSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

There's been a lot of flap lately about the nation's intelligence agencies and about why Trump essentially doesn't trust them.  The controversy started when the Democrats suggested that the only reason Trump won the election was that the Russians interfered with our election process; they cited hacking of the DNC and Clinton Campaign computers as a prime example.  

Trump justifiably asked what evidence there was available to support the claim and which intelligence agencies agreed with the assessment.  Several announced they agreed and several said they did not.  Obama then got on the muscle and the first thing we all knew was that all intelligence agencies were in agreement, although the word "attempted"  was now being interjected into the vocabulary.  The Democrats kept saying "the Russians hacked" and "the Russians influenced."  When the agencies ended up before a Congressional Committee hearing, it was finally agreed by the agencies that "an attempt" had been made, but that there was absolutely no evidence to support any conclusion that any activity by the Russians actually had any effect on the outcome of the election.  

So, what I am proposing here is that the agencies had obviously been bullied into making political conclusions as opposed to providing hard facts.  

Obama himself has often chastised various intelligence agencies for giving him misleading or incorrect information; nevertheless, when it suits his purposes Obama comes out and swears by the information he gets from intelligence.  Once again, the evidence is that the intelligence agencies have lost their ability to report independently and accurately on the information they obtain; indeed, there is evidence to support the contention that absolutely nothing gets reported to Congress or the public by the agencies until it has first been cleared, and perhaps spun, by the White House.  

Any president has to rely on information provided to him by intelligence agencies in the formation of policy and the undertaking of actions involving foreign and domestic affairs.  If he has to constantly ask whether or not the information he receives is tainted by political motives, then the information becomes essentially useless.  

So, Trump has every reason to question what he hears from these agencies.  One of his very first tasks must be to bring the agencies back into compliance with their actual missions, while at the same time gaining their trust that they will not be thrown under the bus for political reasons similar to what Obama has been doing to them for eight long years. 

Trust and confidence between intelligence agencies and the Commander-in-Chief must be expeditiously and thoroughly rebuilt. 

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.