Experts Say Intel Should Have Reached Trump On Russian Bounty Program

President Trump has said he had not been told about a suspected Russian bounty program to pay the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Yet the president's critics, former intelligence officers and even some members of his own party have questioned this. They note that in addition to regular face-to-face security briefings, the U.S. intelligence community compiles a detailed, leather-bound book every weekday for Trump and his top advisers, known as the President's Daily Briefing.

The U.S. intelligence community began getting raw intelligence at least six months ago following raids in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the northern city of Kunduz. Those captured were interrogated and a large pile of cash was uncovered, according to The New York Times.

As intelligence agencies have assessed this raid and additional information, the CIA appears to have the highest degree of confidence in the existence of a Russian bounty program.

However, other senior national security officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and national security adviser Robert O'Brien have all issued statements saying their departments have not corroborated the media reports.

The White House said because there's no consensus in the intelligence community, advisers did not raise the matter with Trump until it broke in the press.

Sharing raw intelligence

But former intelligence officers say potentially critical raw intelligence, even if unconfirmed, is widely shared and should reach the president.

"The first myth about raw intelligence is that it is only seen by one analyst or a group of analysts," said David Priess, a former CIA officer who wrote a history of the presidential security briefings called The President's Book of Secrets. "In fact, raw intelligence is disseminated around the national security community. The White House Situation Room gets a feed of direct, raw intelligence, too."

Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief in Moscow who also worked in the Middle East, says it's important to share intelligence as widely and as quickly as possible.

"I served three years in overseas combat zones collecting this sort of tactical intelligence," he said. "It's not like fine wine getting better with age. You've got to get it out to the people at risk; that means our soldiers but also coalition forces."

"My concern as an intelligence officer would be, I don't want the president or his national security adviser to be blindsided when [British] Prime Minister Boris Johnson says, 'Hey, about that reporting we received that the Russians have a bounty out for our people in Afghanistan ...' " Hoffman said.

The director of national intelligence has the final say over what goes into the daily briefing book, though the CIA generates much of the content and all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies can contribute.

These intelligence streams flow into the various agencies around the clock, and overnight, while Washington sleeps, a team puts together the formal briefing book that's ready by daybreak.

Face-to-face briefings

The book, which typically includes up to 10 items, is available to Trump and his top advisers, though the president prefers to discuss the material in person and is briefed several times a week for about 30 minutes to an hour, according to officials familiar with the process.

Trump has been criticized for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and now the Russia bounty story. In both cases, the White House has tried to shift at least some of the blame onto the briefings.

The White House said the coronavirus threat to the U.S. was first mentioned in a briefing on Jan. 23, but only in a glancing way. And now it says the president was never told verbally about the Russian bounty story.

But in both cases, detailed material was reportedly available to the president and his top advisers in the briefing book.

Normally, the president's dedicated briefer is not publicly identified. But amid the recent controversies, Trump's has been named as Beth Sanner, a highly respected, 30-year veteran of the intelligence community.

In addition to Sanner, the briefings are usually attended by CIA Director Gina Haspel and Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence. O'Brien, the national security adviser, is also present, and according to David Priess, the person in this position has to make sure the president gets the information he needs.

"The ultimate responsibility for getting national security information that the president needs, to the president, lies with the national security adviser," said Priess.

O'Brien, who assumed the position last September, is Trump's fourth national security adviser in less than four years.

The daily intelligence briefing dates to President Harry Truman, who requested it as he tried to make sense of a still-chaotic world in the aftermath of World War II.

Just two years ago, the CIA finally released those initial briefings to Truman, and the contents sound very familiar today. The first item from the first briefing was about the Soviet Union spreading disinformation about the U.S. That briefing also included reports about tensions in the Korean Peninsula and a U.S. trade dispute with China.

The briefings have been tailored to the wishes of each president.

President Richard Nixon didn't much care for them and only authorized one adviser to see them — Henry Kissinger. President Barack Obama got it on his iPad and read it privately, then discussed it throughout the day with the more than 30 other advisers who were also allowed to see it.

Greg Myre is an NPR national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.

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