Why the Squealing In DC?: The Deep State is in Deep Sh*t

That loud squealing you hear coming from points east is not the sound of 1000s of hogs being scalded: it is the collective scream of the governing class panicked at the Barr investigation, and in particular, at Trump’s instruction to the intelligence agencies that they declassify large amounts of material relating to the origins of the Russia investigation. Not surprisingly, among those protesting most strenuously, like the slimy, sanctimonious James Comey and the Neanderthal-browed (hell, Neanderthal period) John Brennan, are those in the gravest legal jeopardy.

In other words, the Deep State is in Deep Shit, and lashing out in response.

One of the attacks leveled at Trump and Barr is that this investigation will reveal the identity of a super-secret CIA source close to Putin.

Is that the best you all can do? Really?

First, color me skeptical that any such source exists.

Second, even assuming that he did exist . . . he has long since been compromised. Obviously.

Christopher Steele spread around the dossier in mid-2016 like a crack whore spreads around the clap (apologies to crack whores, and to the clap). Russian intelligence therefore would have known about it long before it made it onto Buzzfeed–or into the set-up “briefing” Comey gave Trump in January, 2017. Generously assuming the whole thing was (a) not a Russian disinformation operation in the first place, and (b) not a figment of Steele’s imagination, the dossier’s disclosure that an individual or individuals present at or better yet a participant in conversations with Putin and other high-level Russians (e.g., Sechin) was blabbing to western spooks (ex- or active) would have unleashed the leak investigation from hell, without the legal niceties that protect leakers in the US.

Any source would have been identified, and dealt with. Not necessarily with extreme prejudice: indeed that is an unlikely outcome. It would have been far more useful to turn said source to get information on the CIA and to spread disinformation.

Indeed, the CIA (were it even marginally competent) would have realized that the dossier had burned the source and made him not just useless, but dangerous to the CIA.

So spare me the wailing laments about outing a CIA mole in the Kremlin. If (and that’s a big if) the mole existed, he is no longer a useful intelligence asset to the US, nor can he be any more endangered than was 3 years ago.

Further, the whole “we’d love to tell you but then we have to kill you” pose is rather convenient, no? After all, if there was a super secret CIA squirrel in the Kremlin who could prove that Trump conspired with the Russians, wouldn’t The Resistance just be dying for that information to come out, and to be validated? After all, it would seal their case against their arch-enemy.

How stupid do they think we are, that we would believe that the identity of an already-burned source is so sacrosanct that they would sacrifice their vendetta against Trump (whom they claim is a mortal danger to national security) rather than reveal it?

Please. The strident protests actually undermine the veracity of collusion claims.

I have always been deeply ambivalent about the CIA. I recognize the need for an intelligence apparatus. I further recognize the need for secrecy for it to operate effectively. But I also recognize that this secrecy provides a cover for it to engage in nefarious actions intended to implement its own agendas, which are often malign. Secrecy also makes it almost impossible to hold it accountable for its litany of failures.

There is a colorable case that the Neanderthal and his minions engaged in numerous nefarious acts in 2016 and 2017. Getting to the bottom of that, and holding those responsible for any such acts accountable is far more important to the health of the Republic than protecting some putative source in Putin’s inner circle (who, if he existed, was hopelessly compromised years ago).

Let the investigation continue, the documents be declassified, and the chips fall where they may. The prospect of which is exactly why the hogs are squealing.