In an Oval Office meeting the day after firing FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump reportedly shared intelligence from an allied nation's sources on an Islamic State plot to bring down passenger airplanes with laptop computers turned into bombs. The intelligence, which was apparently behind reports that the US will extend a ban on laptops to include flights from Europe, had been highly classified because of the sensitivity of its source.

Statements from President Trump on Twitter and from White House National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster did not directly contradict details initially reported by the Washington Post late on Monday. McMaster said that no sources or methods were exposed in the conversation. However, the unnamed officials cited in the Post report were concerned that Trump's citing of the exact location "in the Islamic State’s territory where the US intelligence partner detected the threat" could expose the source. Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted:

As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017

...to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017

Trump also lashed out at the intelligence community for leaking about his actions:

I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 16, 2017

While it may have fallen within Trump's purview to share the data, the passing along of sensitively sourced intelligence from another country to Russian authorities could have a significant impact on the US intelligence community's ability to share intelligence with other allied countries. That could have far-reaching implications for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, both of which depend on shared access to data from counterpart organizations in the "Five Eyes" group (which also includes the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand), as well as NATO and Middle Eastern allies, for intelligence in some areas of great concern for US national security policymakers.

The sharing of the intelligence data by Trump also contributes to concerns about damage being done to the US's own intelligence community and the swirling controversy that is driving investigations into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian government officials or people in the employ of Russian intelligence. There have been previous reports that intelligence agency officials are withholding intelligence from the White House because of concerns about leaks.

Additionally, Russia is suspected by many to be behind both the leak of CIA documentation and code for espionage software and the "Shadow Brokers" leak of NSA tools (including the exploit currently being utilized by the WannaCry worldwide ransomware attack). And investigations continue into Russia's role in the Democratic National Committee breach and other interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In an interview on Sunday with CNN's Jake Tapper, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, "I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally—and that's the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system—and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally." When asked if he meant that Trump was the source of internal assault, Clapper responded, "Exactly."