More alarming
The purge begins.
….during the 2016 Presidential election. The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
….Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions.” @PressSec
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
Show trials. Executions at dawn. Reprisals.
Whoa. So Barr has the sole authority to declassify info related to the Trump investigation over the objections of the original classifying authority – CIA, NSA, etc. A huge accumulation of power and discretion to the AG that I believe is unprecedented. https://t.co/xDTiurMyff
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 24, 2019
Seems like declassifying that shit would not have the desired effect… Maybe I’m missing something.
Also the spooks have an opportunity to fuck him up now if they’re sufficiently annoyed… Wonder if they’ll have the spine to do so?
Blood Knight, the problem is that Barr can selectively declassify. So he can release anything that — taken out of context — might embarrass Comey or Brennan or Strzok or any of Trump’s other “enemies.” He can even release documents in redacted form to create misleading quotations.
Of course, the media would never fall for that trick. Again. Yeah, right.
Fair point… Admittedly I think pretty much everyone’s already made up their minds on all this and the rest don’t really care.
Don’t the original classifying agencies have the authority to also declassify stuff if they feel Barr is dishonestly representing their work?
Interesting question.
Barr is their boss, in that all the relevant agencies are branches of the DoJ and he’s the boss at the DoJ…so I’m guessing they probably don’t have the authority to do that without his ok.This is why Mark Felt met Woodward in that parking garage. He couldn’t get the word out via official means so he went to a reporter. He couldn’t get the word out via official means because the new head of the FBI was protecting Nixon.
None of this is at all reassuring.
Ophelia, I don’t think it’s correct that these agencies work for Barr. The FBI does, but as the executive order excerpt quoted in your post indicates, Barr’s newly-granted authority extends to the entire intelligence community, as defined in 50 USC 3003. That includes, among other things, the CIA (which is outside DOJ and reports to the Director of National Intelligence), various intelligence services within the Departments of Defense (including the NSA), State, and (believe it or not) Treasury.
Some of those probably won’t be relevant to Barr’s inquiry, but CIA and NSA almost certainly will.
Blood Knight @4, I’m less concerned with the effect of Barr’s strategic declassification on voters as I am with its effects on the careers of people involved, and the impact that will have on the intelligence community generally. Trump already has dipshits like Corey Lewandowski going on television and promising trials of Comey and McCabe and Page and Strzok, and people at rallies chanting about treason. Barr can expose — or threaten to expose — various intelligence community officials to the same treatment. Think of the message that sends to people in those agencies: cooperate with the President’s agenda, or your career is in jeopardy.
Ohhh, thanks Screechy. I was extrapolating from Andrew McCabe’s book, but he of course was talking about the FBI only. Derp.