A race

We’ve heard a lot in the news about Michael Flynn leaving the job of National Security Adviser under strange circumstances (you can find details elsewhere) and the job being offered to Robert Howard. But Howard turned down the job, saying the nasty guy wouldn’t let Howard pick his own staff.

Which leads to the important question: Why does the White House want control over what the National Security organizations have to say?

Melissa McEwan of Shakesville suggests that the intelligence community, as part of doing its job, is closing in on the nasty guy’s foreign business partners and his entanglements with them, perhaps the kind that make him choose between national security and protecting his wealth. The nasty guy may want to install his own people in the intelligence community to keep his business dealings secret.

We’re now in a race between the intelligence community trying to expose the corruption of the nasty guy and the nasty guy purging the intelligence community trying to shut down their investigation of him. Which leaves the question: How effective will a purged intelligence community be? Will his attempts to keep his entanglements secret allow him to miss coming attacks on Americans? Keep in mind he is waiting for an attack to allow him to shut down his political opponents.