Kent Harrington is right: Trump can not be trusted. A president who can not be trusted is hurting American intelligence gathering, doing harm to the country’s reputation. Sadly, the US has shown the world that it is capable of putting someone like Trump in office, and that only raises doubt about Americans’ judiciousness. What is worrying is that “Trump will not hesitate to ignore the interests of US allies and intelligence partners when it suits his political interests.”

The author says, Trump’s latest attempt to coerce Ukraine into investigating his political opponent, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, and his efforts “to bury a whistleblower complaint that has been referred to Congress by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community offers an early indication of what to expect in the 2020 presidential campaign. If US intelligence agencies do not toe Trump's line, they will become Public Enemy #1 for his base.”

Earlier this month, there were reports about the CIA being forced to extract from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Kremlin in 2017, partly because of worries that Trump’s cavalier handling of intelligence information could expose the person, jeopardising that individual’s safety. Experts believe the secret removal of this “exceptionally valuable” Russian asset has left the US without one of its key sources on the inner workings of the Kremlin.

The world has mostly grown bored of the story behind Trump’s corrupt relationship with Russia. And too many in Washington, including the Republicans, have grown used to Trump using national security secrets in the same way he once traded tabloid gossip. He discloses American intelligence to deflect attention from unflattering stories, suck up to people he wants to impress, or simply on a whim. He treats the trappings of his presidency as a private tool of self-gratification.

On May 9, 2017, hosting Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, Trump disclosed classified intelligence about ISIS that originated in Israel, potentially endangering a source that was, “the most valuable source of information on external plotting by Islamic State.” This led a senior German politician to describe the president as a “security risk for the entire Western world.”

Two weeks later, Trump bragged to Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte about the presence of American nuclear submarines off North Korea. Then, that September, after a subway bombing in London, Trump tweeted out that the perpetrators “were in the sights of Scotland Yard,” information that had not been publicly released. This prompted a rebuke from the British prime minister, Theresa May.

On August 30, 2019, Trump tweeted a highly classified image of the aftermath of an explosion at an Iranian test site. From the image, journalists and sleuths were able to deduce important information about the type and location of the satellite that produced it. This is the first time in three and a half decades that an image of immense value to US adversaries has become public that reveals the sophistication of US spy satellites in orbit,

In the past, Trump had personally overruled intelligence officials to demand that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be given a top-secret security clearance. Many say, Kushner had passed American intelligence to the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in return for personal favours. MBS boasted that he had discussed Saudis disloyal to the regime with Kushner. Shortly after these alleged conversations, MBS initiated a purge of dissidents, and Jamal Khashoggi was among them.

The author says, the “Ukraine affair also offers an early indication of how Trump will deal with intelligence that threatens his prospects for re-election. Attorney General William Barr’s official probe into the origins of the 2016 inquiry into Russian election interference exemplifies the White House effort to intimidate intelligence officials, presumably with the hope they will downplay their investigations of Russia’s continuing meddling.”

Unfortunately Republicans refuse to learn the lesson, even though US intelligence and law-enforcement agencies – including the FBI in a major report last month – “have warned that Russian attacks on the 2020 election are already in the works. Such findings put these agencies directly at odds with Trump, who still refuses to acknowledge that the Kremlin aided his 2016 campaign.”

Two weeks ago, GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, finally agreed to add $250 million for election security after coming under criticism for not supporting separate election security legislation.

As Democrats have opened a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump over claims that he sought political help from Ukraine, it remains to be seen whether it will take a toll on his re-election in 2020.