The recent chaos surrounding the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has taken an even darker turn. The prospect of Richard Grennel temporarily taking charge was scary enough, then we learn that Rep. Doug Collins might be the permanent choice. Collins is reported to have demurred in favour of pursuing a Senate seat. No word yet on whether Ted Nugent has interviewed for the position.
But the uncertainty about the top job at ODNI might be of less importance to another role change there. The Director’s primary deputy has, likewise, been pushed out, sent back to his home agency, the CIA. In his place, Trump has installed none other than Devin Nunes staffer Kash Patel!
This is a really scary development. And it suddenly becomes clear why Trump originally planned for Grennel to continue in his role as US Ambassador to Germany. He was to be a figurehead, with the powerful #2 spot going to a crazed lickspittle who’s proven already that he’s not shy about fucking with the Intelligence Community.
Patel, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, joined the National Security Council’s International Organizations and Alliances directorate last February and was promoted to a senior counterterrorism role at the NSC in mid-summer.
He had previously worked as Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.)’s top staffer on the House Intelligence Committee and was the lead author of a report questioning the conduct of FBI and DOJ officials investigating Russia’s election interference. Republicans later used the report to bolster arguments that the probe was a plot to take down President Donald Trump.
That report was a collection of Patel’s conspiracy theories regarding those FISA warrants, designed to impugn the credibility of the original FBI investigation into Russia’s attack on US elections. He went from that to the Ukraine caper, insinuating himself as a so-called expert on that nation while at NSC and becoming the “secret back-channel” to Trump on Ukraine that other NSC staffers feared.
That’s the guy who is now calling the shots at the top of the IC, lording over 17 different Intelligence agencies.
When Patel moved to NSC it was bad enough; this latest career move presents a full-blown national security crisis.