Pulte Strikes: The CIA in Trump’s Crosshairs

Washington is making enemies on all fronts and even alienating its own allies. Logically, the United States needs a strong intelligence apparatus right now. But Trump is taking the exact opposite approach. He has dispatched his loyal enforcer, Pulte, to execute a sweeping purge of the intelligence community.

The bloodletting is sending shockwaves through the ranks. It started at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Now it is spreading to the 18 agencies beneath it. The CIA has long harbored deep tensions with Trump and is unlikely to be spared.

Acting DNI Pulte is Trump's ruthless enforcer. Taking office this week, he instantly launched a sweeping intelligence purge to cut down the president's enemies.

Several members of Congress wrote to Pulte to demand an immediate halt. They warned this political purge will erode America's intelligence capabilities. But those warnings fall on deaf ears. Pulte answers to only one master, making a massacre all but certain.

Pulte is wasting no time sharpening his blade. CNN reports that he officially began work on Monday, a full day ahead of schedule. He immediately convened closed-door meetings with lawyers and aides. After securing a complete roster of ODNI employees, he started cutting. The first casualties were the politically appointed loyalists of former Director Gabbard. By Tuesday, multiple staffers were already leaving the office with boxes in their hands. More dismissals are sure to follow.

Gabbard was originally a "Barbie-type" senior official hand-picked by Trump himself. But she fell out of favor after clashing with her boss over the Iran strikes and internal restructuring. She resigned last month citing her husband's illness.

The reality is she was pushed out. Trump swiftly installed Pulte as the acting DNI for a 210-day term. Pulte previously served as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This diehard loyalist was brought in for nothing but one obvious reason: to serve as the president's personal enforcer and bring about a massive purge.
The ODNI plays a role of enormous consequence in Washington. The agency serves as the president's intelligence adviser and briefs him on the most sensitive classified information. It coordinates all 18 intelligence agencies under its umbrella and oversees a staggering budget of nearly $100 billion.

Yet, Trump has always harbored deep suspicions about this apparatus. Since taking office, he has suspected that holdovers from the previous administration remain embedded within various agencies. He views these officials as fundamentally disloyal. Rooting them out is Pulte's primary mandate.

True to form, Pulte began slashing before his seat was even warm. CNN indicates he will quickly pivot his attention to the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. He ordered those bodies to submit personnel files on Monday. They are already compiling lists of employees earmarked for dismissal.
Trump sees these agencies as riddled with subversives. Recent events have only reinforced his suspicions. The United States launched military action against Iran in mid-March. Shortly after, National Counterterrorism Center Director Kent abruptly announced his resignation. He released an open letter stating he could not support the war against Iran in good conscience. He further alleged that Israel had pressured the president into the conflict.

Such remarks sent Trump into a furious rage. He is now more driven than ever: thorough cleansing of the intelligence community is clearly long overdue.

Trump's distrust of the CIA runs just as deep and stems from long-standing grievances. A group of CIA officers participated in intelligence assessments related to the "Russia collusion" investigation back in 2016. The president brands these individuals as "deep state" operatives actively working against him.

Some of those officials remain at the agency to this day. They are prime targets in this new purge. It is only a matter of time before Pulte sets his sights on Langley.

Trump and the CIA share a bitter history. The agency is now firmly in Pulte's crosshairs.

Make no mistake: Trump is openly embracing accusations of a political purge. He spoke to the Wall Street Journal just two days ago and described the ODNI as bloated and unnecessary. He boldly declared he wants to see the agency get smaller, adding that many people there simply do not belong.

The president expects Pulte to execute this process immediately. He insists that whoever is eventually nominated to the permanent post must carry on the ruthless work. He views a massive "housecleaning" before a new director arrives as a profoundly good thing. Trump argues there are simply too many intelligence personnel, and he openly welcomes deep personnel cuts.
America's military vulnerabilities were already laid bare by its recent campaign against Iran. Now Trump is gutting the very intelligence services the nation depends on to survive. He is effectively severing his own limbs in a desperate drive to excise the "deep state."

At this destructive rate, the United States will inevitably be exposed as nothing more than a paper tiger.

Lai Ting-yiu

What Say You?

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

The US war on Iran is a broken record: strike, pause, strike again. Even Donald Trump can't find the off switch. But the real tragedy is playing out at sea. Thousands of sailors and airmen are trapped on carriers in brutal conditions. No return date. No escape. Their minds are fraying. Lives hang by a thread.

250-day deployment, no return date — sailors cracking, jumping overboard

Now US media reports a nightmare unfolding on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Sailors, driven insane by the endless confinement, tried to jump overboard. They wanted to end it all in the churning sea. Crew members stopped them just in time. They were saved from becoming lost souls in the angry waves.

More than 200 family members learned the truth and exploded. They confronted senior Navy officials, accusing them of treating sailors like disposable parts. The firestorm is just getting started. It will rage hotter. And it will eventually burn Trump himself.

The USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego on November 21 last year. It loitered in the Indo-Pacific, then steamed to the Middle East just before the Iran war erupted.

That was more than 250 days ago. Since then, the carrier has barely touched land. A few days in Guam. A few in Oman. The rest of the time? Endless sea. And still, no return date.

For the 5,000-plus sailors on board, the agony goes beyond not knowing when they'll see home. The ship itself is falling apart. Toilets clog. Showers grow mold. Washing machines are dead. Even drinking water and food rations have been cut. This is daily life. It is inhumane.

Add relentless combat missions to the mix. The pressure is simply crushing. Everyone feels like they're trapped in a pressure cooker. Their mental state? On the brink of collapse.

Families Confront the Navy

The families had heard about the hardships onboard. They reached their breaking point. Last weekend, more than 200 of them held a grievance meeting in San Diego, angrily confronting Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao.

Hundreds of families grilled Hung Cao. Firestorm heads for Trump

A family member named Loma spoke through tears. Her husband was one of the sailors who tried to jump overboard to commit suicide. He was rescued, pulled from duty, and is now in treatment. The ship's grievance department reached out once. Then silence. She's had only a few brief words with her husband since.

Another family member told another horror. Her husband saw a fellow sailor climb over the railing, ready to jump. He shouted, rushed forward, and dragged the man back onto the deck. He saved a life.

At the grievance meeting, the anguish was relentless. One mother, in tears, recounted a call from her daughter. The sailor's voice was hollow. She felt she would never go home. She might die on the ship.

Other families turned their fury on Hung Cao and senior Navy officials. Why was the USS Lincoln's combat mission being stretched endlessly? The ship was due back in May. Now the return date is a question mark. The Navy Department has never offered a specific timeline. That lit a fuse.

Hung Cao's answer was shameless. He said another carrier, the USS Roosevelt, would relieve the USS Lincoln. But he never gave a concrete timeline. The families, of course, refused to let it go.

The Navy's Impossible Math and a Political Firestorm

The Navy Department stood silent, absorbing the families' fury. But it had its own bitter truth to swallow. The USS Ford, the other carrier that had been operating alongside the Lincoln in the Middle East, pulled out in May after more than ten months at sea and a laundry room fire.

Now, only the Lincoln and the USS Bush remain in the region. Carriers from other areas can't be rushed in to relieve them. And with the Middle East war still boiling, the Lincoln has no choice but to keep enduring.

The US Navy faces a brutal math: ten bottles, seven lids. The endless Middle East wars keep it bogged down. So even when it knows a ship like the Lincoln is overloaded and its sailors are on the verge of collapse, it is helpless.

This endless delay is crushing the thousands of sailors on board. If the pressure keeps building, it will hit a breaking point. Then sailors may start taking their own lives, jumping into the sea one after another in protest.

Then the families' fury will erupt like wildfire. This fire will ultimately engulf Trump. He will be badly burned and left in a terrible mess.

Lai Ting-yiu