In The Trump “White” House: No Spies Matter. How Trump’s Attack on US Intelligence, Defense and Investigative Agencies May Kill Us Malcolm Nance Feb 6 Photo: This portrait of Virginia Hall, the one legged WW2 OSS officer who spied behind German lines in occupied France, adorns the walls of the CIA HQ building. Or does it? (Photo: CIA) One of the proudest moments in my multi-decade career in US intelligence came when I was just 25 years old. A terrorist attack had taken dozens of US citizens hostage and left one dead on the runway of a Middle Eastern airport. He was killed simply because he was an American citizen in the Armed Forces. By sure, happenstance, I was on duty when this operation started, and for the next two weeks, I would spend 16 hours per day collecting every scrap of intelligence I could. Along with my army, Air Force, and Marine Corps brothers and sisters, we dedicated every waking moment to ensuring that the other hostages would be freed. Most importantly, we believed that getting accurate and timely intelligence to the person sitting in the seat of the presidency of the United States was our sworn duty. In doing so, all Americans would be safe. It was mine, numbing the effort we put Into this operation. Most nights, I slept on the floor in a sleeping bag with a coat as a pillow. When we had to surge our operations, a phrase that meant everyone needed to be awake and collecting. None of us complained about doing 24-hour watch shifts. It was an honor to work for the people of the United States. It was a great honor knowing that the President of the United States was consuming our intelligence at all hours of day and night, with orders to wake him up anytime our little group had something significant. There is a saying in the US intelligence community that we work for the National Command Authority (NCA) that we don’t care about the politics of who is sitting in the seat because it is our sworn duty to serve the position, not the man or the woman. I have kept faith with that oath from the first moment I swore it. I have never questioned my loyalty to the United States of America. It breaks my heart to say that I question the person presently sitting in the Oval Office because I do not believe he is loyal to America, the Oath of Office, the Constitution, the People of the United States … or anyone but himself. As if to prove me correct, Donald Trump decided this week that he would take a sledgehammer to US intelligence. In a stunning display of what I called WEI, White equity, and inclusion, Trump used his incompetent, unqualified, drunken frat bro Pete Hesgeth to issue orders that would essentially turn the United States Department of Defense into a white supremacist organization. Special Intelligence is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. It's only $7, and Elon gets none of it. The Pentagon ordered all branches and commands to withdraw and eliminate any recognition of the contributions of women and minorities in the defense of this nation. Two hundred forty-nine years of teamwork and searching for equality were thrown into the dustbin of history. It is disgraceful that Hesgeth, a junior National Guard captain with no qualifications other than he was a Fox News host and a very credible alcoholic who abused women, would replace a black four-star general who had won the Silver Star for valor. The Secretary of Defense is, arguably, the third most powerful man in America. It is a position that requires diplomacy, tact, and seriousness. The SecDef commands the three million men and women in the forces and has operational control of 4,000 atomic bombs. Trump turned that position over to an errand boy who will never question his authority or refuse an unlawful order. This will decimate the ranks of the armed forces and service academies. Why would minority men and women serve in an openly racist government? They won’t. I predict we will lose tens of thousands of service members within two years. The most intelligent ones in the officer corps at the service academies and colleges will leave first. By now, you should have a sinking feeling in your stomach. Hegseth ordered all intelligence agencies in the Department of Defense, all military academies, and every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine to ignore the contributions of blacks, women, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and LGBT persons who gave their lives in defense of America. However, at the US Military Academy in West Point, a memo was found that all minority-supporting clubs were to be closed and disbanded. However, he did not order the closing of the German language club, the French club, or the Polish association. It is patently clear that the marching orders are white supremacy is now the order of the day for the US defense. Photo: I cannot describe how fucking disgraceful this photo is. This was the NSA’s “Hall of Honor.” For 48 disgraceful hours, the National Security Agency covered up a memorial to minority men and women who contributed to American code-breaking, including the insane effort to erase Elizabeth Friedman, the mother of American code-breaking. She was a genius in her own right alongside her husband William, as they both cracked and read virtually every message Germany ever sent in World War I. As a couple, they established the foundations of the NSA. Had I been present when that decision was made, my career would’ve ended immediately. I would’ve kicked the ass of anyone who would have the temerity to suggest an attempt to erase the history of these heroes. The screaming would’ve been epic, and as we say in the Navy, I would’ve “thrown my anchors down,” which means I’m risking it all to give you my piece of mind. The atmosphere towards the necessity and safety of US intelligence under Trump has changed. He just does not give a flying fuck about US spies’ lives. It’s bad enough that he nominated Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence (DNI). A woman who is incredibly an ally of Moscow and dictators around the world and who is widely believed to be mentally ill. She traffickers in every type of conspiracy theory and, given access to US intelligence, will use it to attack American citizens first. Moscow will be ecstatic over this, and so will China because her blind cult-level incompetence is a benefit to their very highly competent intelligence agencies. The only reason the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee voted for her to go to the full Senate vote was because two critical Republican senators expressed private worries over threats to their lives and those of their families. The MAGA thugs threatened to kill them. So, they voted the way Donald Trump wanted. Oh, it gets worse. We have learned just today that the White House ordered the CIA to send Trump a list of all of its newly hired agents for the last two years, WITH THEIR REAL NAMES, OVER AN UNCLASSIFIED EMAIL SYSTEM. I swear to God, the fucking idiot sent it in an unclassified email. Though the names were reduced to full first name, middle initial, and a single letter of the last name, any competent intelligence agency or journalist could identify every person hired into the clandestine service. And just like that, Trump burned every spy we just hired. He did not just destroy the people in those sensitive positions, but those who trained them, those who have been friends to them, and their relatives both in the United States and overseas. Donald Trump has just essentially sentenced them to death, and it will be a Hercules effort for the CIA to return them all to the United States before someone takes a bullet to the brain or is kidnapped. We have reached a watershed moment. Within the next 30 days, US intelligence and defense could be crippled to the point that even the most rudimentary terrorist act won’t be detected. I’m going to tell you a little secret that should be a surprise to no one. Most of our intelligence assets overseas are not white. The people who look like our enemies are our most significant source of information. If the world is any measure, that means eight out of 10 of the spies we run around the world are the very people Donald Trump is insulting today. Finally, our intelligent, well-meaning allies have already put out the word that the most successful, intelligent sharing operation in history, the Five Eyes relationship (America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) started in World War Two, may end if Tulsi Gabbard is made DNI. The actual flow of intelligence may not end, but the most sensitive and critical information will likely not be given to the United States except in the most roundabout way ,,, like “Hey, something is going to happen soon. Be careful.” That means they will not trust us with the location, activities, or identities of their agents and assets because Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, or Elon Musk could release it on a whim. The same goes for all of our NATO allies and Ukraine. No one will trust America with their most secret intelligence with this current administration. No. One. I am ashamed to say that for the first time in my life, I cannot recommend any minority, woman, or person of a different sexual orientation to enter US defense or intelligence during the Trump era. It makes me weep to think of the betrayal of 248 years of effort, including the 152 years of my family’s military service, to have a fascist, racist, white supremacist erase it all in a week! The history of those military and intelligence heroes is not gone. The struggle of the Nisei, the Japanese-American soldiers who fought in eastern France during WW2 to prove their loyalty, remains in memorials where they died all over Europe. Books abound, including those of Virginia Hall, the OSS/SOE spy with one leg who operated clandestine radio networks under the nose of Nazi Germany, even though efforts were made to cover up her contributions at the CIA. Two British historians, Dr Helen Fry and Dr. Claire Hubbard Hall, have written brilliant, movie-worthy books on the white, black, and Asian women spies of World War Two. They’re required reading for anyone who wants to know what real courage looks like. What can be done to stop this? Well, it’s up to us each to resist in some way every day, no matter how small. Fly your flag higher and/or turn it upside down. Wear a button or drive proudly with a bumper sticker that shows your defiance. I will be posting hints, tips, and tricks you can use from the resistance forces and spies of WWII to help you stand up to the Trump occupation of the white house. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, we must all hang together, or we will surely hang alone. Postscript: As I wrote these last words, I was listening to a piece of music from the soundtrack from the movie Glory with Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick. It’s called Preparations for Battle. In the movie, a very choked-up Broderick, portraying Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, is writing his farewell letter to his mother and looking at the sea for the last time before he storms the Confederate Fort Wagner. Before the assault, he gives the letter to a journalist who comes to watch him and his all-colored 54th Massachusetts Regiment. It made me wonder why we would forsake the bravery of men, women, and LGBT who have sacrificed to move America forward. Will we let that sacrifice die in vain? I feel we are all going into a battle, but many have not yet realized there may be no going back to the America we once loved. Racism, hatred, and white supremacy have been revealed as ingrained in 40% of America. They will fight us to retain their evil power. Will we survive as a nation? That’s entirely up to us now.