Leaker: Bannon running ‘Shadow NSC’ with no paper trail

Posted by | January 31, 2017 10:22 | Filed under: Top Stories

Foreign Policy has a chilling analysis from an intel community leaker: Bannon makes Dick Cheney look like Honest-Abe-meets-Lord-Gladstone:

Even before he was given a formal seat on the National Security Council’s “principals committee” this weekend by President Donald Trump, Bannon was calling the shots and doing so with little to no input from the National Security Council staff, according to an intelligence official who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution.

He is running a cabal, almost like a shadow NSC,” the official said. He described a work environment where there is little appetite for dissenting opinions, shockingly no paper trail of what’s being discussed and agreed upon at meetings, and no guidance or encouragement so far from above about how the National Security Council staff should be organized.

The intelligence official, who said he was willing to give the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt when it took office, is now deeply troubled by how things are being run.

They ran all of these executive orders outside of the normal construct,” he said, referring to last week’s flurry of draft executive orders on everything from immigration to the return of CIA “black sites.”

The lack of a paper trail documenting the decision-making process is also troubling, the intelligence official said. For example, under previous administrations, after a principals or deputies meeting of the National Security Council, the discussion, the final agreement, and the recommendations would be written up in what’s called a “summary of conclusions” — or SOC in government-speak.

“Under [President George W. Bush], the National Security Council was quite strict about recording SOCs,” said Matthew Waxman, a law professor at Columbia University who served on Bush’s National Security Council. “There was often a high level of generality, and there may have been some exceptions, but they were carefully crafted.”

These summaries also provided a record to refer back to, especially important if a debate over an issue came up again, including among agencies that needed to implement the conclusions reached.

If someone thought the discussion was mischaracterized, he or she would call for a correction to be issued to set the record straight, said Loren DeJonge Schulman, who previously served in former President Barack Obama’s administration as a senior advisor to National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Schulman is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“People took the document seriously,” she said.

During the first week of the Trump administration, there were no SOCs, the intelligence official said. In fact, according to him, there is surprisingly very little paper being generated, and whatever paper there is, the NSC staff is not privy to it. He sees this as a deterioration of transparency and accountability.


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Copyright 2017 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.

9 responses to Leaker: Bannon running ‘Shadow NSC’ with no paper trail

  1. Mensa Member January 31st, 2017 at 10:25

    Lock him up! Lock him up!

  2. mea_mark January 31st, 2017 at 10:36

    Little Donald and his administration are trying to take all the power of government and put it in their hands. If the republicans don’t move to stop him soon they might find themselves subject to his whims. At the rate things are deteriorating I can easily see executions of political leaders that defy the tRump and that includes republicans.

    At first they came for them and now they are coming for me … something for republicans to think about.

  3. William January 31st, 2017 at 10:49

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9db0f4fbed4912afb7762c7c011f5ae2371aead56a3a587b9c81e4e9cfea9847.jpg

    • Suzanne McFly January 31st, 2017 at 14:00

      I love the dry cleaning coupon, do those types even have anything in their wardrobe that would require that? I don’t have white sheets, but my pretty floral sheets clean up perfectly in a regular washer and dryer. lol

      • amersham1046 January 31st, 2017 at 17:22

        no they are the type to take their sheets down to the creek and beat them on a rock

  4. Buford2k11 January 31st, 2017 at 11:13

    he is just setting things up so he can “disappear” is enemies…read the Putin playbook….

    • Maryrworthington February 1st, 2017 at 08:07

      Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj539d:
      On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
      !mj539d:
      ➽➽
      ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash539HomeLineGetPay$97Hour ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★::::::!mj539d:….,….

  5. amersham1046 January 31st, 2017 at 17:21

    This will become the dirtiest government America has ever seen

    • whatthe46 January 31st, 2017 at 17:36

      it as from the day Russia interfered, the FBI, RNC, the massive voter suppression of 800k voters and gerrymandering, all because they were afraid of Hillary and hated her more than they gave a damn about our country. the rethugs will live with this mess for the rest of eternity. however long that may be now.

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