Trump: Intel Chiefs ‘Passive and Naive When It Comes to the Dangers of Iran’
President Trump lashed out at top U.S. intelligence officials on Wednesday, a day after they contradicted his assessment of the Iranian nuclear threat in a joint appearance before Congress.
The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
….a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2019
Trump’s criticism came after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA director Gina Haspel testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and disputed his characterization of a number of foreign threats.
“We continue to assess that Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear-weapons-development activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device,” Coats said in testimony accompanying the U.S. intelligence community’s Worldwide Threat Assessment.
Coats and Haspel also said that, contra Trump’s claims, North Korea is not on track to giving up its nuclear weapons and ISIS will likely “continue to pursue external attacks from Iraq and Syria against regional and Western adversaries, including the United States.”
Trump pushed back on both assessments, saying the relationship between North Korea and the U.S. is the “best it has ever been” and ISIS “will soon be destroyed.”
