• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Trump's disclosure endangered spy placed inside ISIS by Israel, officials say

B

Black Mamba

Member
The life of a spy placed by Israel inside ISIS is at risk tonight, according to current and former U.S. officials, after President Donald Trump reportedly disclosed classified information in a meeting with Russian officials last week.

The spy provided intelligence involving an active ISIS plot to bring down a passenger jet en route to the United States, with a bomb hidden in a laptop that U.S. officials believe can get through airport screening machines undetected. The information was reliable enough that the U.S. is considering a ban on laptops on all flights from Europe to the United States.

The sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States, officials say, on the condition that the source remain confidential.

”The real risk is not just this source," said Matt Olsen, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and an ABC News contributor, ”but future sources of information about plots against us."

ISIS has already taken credit for blowing up a Russian airliner two years ago, killing more than 200 people, claiming the bomb was hidden in a soft drink can. The White House National Security Adviser says that justifies President Trump's disclosures to the Russians.

”And so this was the context of the conversation in which it was wholly appropriate to share what the threat was as a basis for common action and coordination," said General H.R. McMasters on Tuesday.

When pressed by ABC News' Jonathan Karl, McMaster would not say if Trump disclosed classified information. Trump said in a pair of tweets Tuesday he had the "absolute right" to share "facts" with the Russians.

But many in the counter-terrorism community say what the President did was a mistake.

”Russia is not part of the ISIS coalition," Olsen said. ”They are not our partner."

Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, now a senior visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, agreed. In an interview with ABC News, he called the president and his team ”careless," saying that the reported disclosures demonstrate a ”poor understanding of how to guard sensitive information."

Shapiro was most concerned, however, that the president's move could make Israel think twice about sharing intelligence with the United States, warning that it will ”inevitably cause elements of Israel's intelligence service to demonstrate more caution."

The reaction in Congress appeared to diverge along partisan lines. Asked if he had concerns about the president's handling of classified information, the Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell let out a small laugh and before replying simply, "No."

But Democrats disagree. Shortly after McConnell's comments, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his call for the White House to release full, unedited transcripts of Trump's meeting with the Russian officials.

"This is not normal behavior. This is not how a White House should operate," Schumer said. "Firing an FBI director who is investigating the president's campaign, disclosing classified information to a country that wishes us harm and just finished undermining the integrity of our elections. We need our Republican colleagues to join us in standing up, to put country over party."
Click to expand...

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/trump...nside-isis-israel-officials/story?id=47449304

De-classify me if old.
 
G

Gearless

Neo Member
I feel like we live in an alternative universe where Donald Trump can do no wrong. Guys, I think we live in the darkest universe.
 
B

btrboyev

Member
Gearless said:
I feel like we live in an alternative universe where Donald Trump can do no wrong. Guys, I think we live in the darkest universe.
Click to expand...

Not true. I feel this is the week, he is gonna go down, or the process starts. He fucked up. The Comey memo will be the final nail on the coffin.
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Xando said:
They have(had?) a spy so deep in ISIS he knows of foreign attacks and Trump blows it.
Click to expand...

At what point do we not declare Trump an international threat?

For all we know, the spy may be in the process of stopping a terror attack on a country. Trump revealing that is basically saying "fuck you nations of the world. Enjoy your civilian massacres".
 
S

Spaghetti

Member
This has to be the point where the noose tightens around Trump's throat, right?

Even the Republicans have to be thinking they've made a fucking giant mistake.
 
X

Xando

Member
At this point the only thing that would make this story even worse would be ISIS publicly executing this poor agent.

Hope they get him out
 
K

Keri

Member
Wait, wasn't a possible ban of laptops on incoming U.S. flights already reported? So, was there an earlier leak and wouldn't the spy have already been endangered? I could have sworn I heard about a ban on laptops, earlier than this week.
 
BeforeU

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
deal-with-it-2-Trump-Gif.gif
Click to expand...

and yeah fuck trump
 
S

Silent_Ocarina

Member
It is absolutely mind boggling to me that anyone is deluded enough to think Trump is in any way capable of being the fucking POTUS. The guy literally has no clue what he is doing.
 
B

brian577

Banned
ShadowSwordmaster said:
That was for Europe.
Click to expand...

And?
The spy provided intelligence involving an active ISIS plot to bring down a passenger jet en route to the United States, with a bomb hidden in a laptop that U.S. officials believe can get through airport screening machines undetected. The information was reliable enough that the U.S. is considering a ban on laptops on all flights from Europe to the United States.
Click to expand...
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Seriously, when is America going to impeach the orange clown?

ISIS could get a nuke tomorrow and Trump's response would be "So what? Lets focus on building a billion dollar wall first".
 
N

nephilimdj

Member
Israels role in Syria is just bombing runs of arm caches of Hezbollah that come from lebonon and Iran, article makes it sound like Israel is some important Ally there, Israel is pretty much doing its own thing and not making a major impact.
 
SoulUnison

SoulUnison

Banned
Literally everything I was told Hillary was dangerous because of Trump's done in his first few months and even doubled down on.

-Private email servers and improper handling of classified information.
-Raising tensions in the Middle East and with Korea. (Not to mention randomly threatening Mexico with war.)
-Being generally "too emotional" to lead effectively.
-Intra-governmental conflicts of interest.

And that's not even going into all the stuff Trump's been projecting onto others since the middle of last year that we now know he was doing more than anybody.

And of course, all the Trump supporters I know now either "don't want to talk politics" or can say nothing but "well you have to get your news from both sides. Let's give him a chance."
 
H

Hellsing321

Member
Keri said:
Wait, wasn't a possible ban of laptops on incoming U.S. flights already reported? So, was there an earlier leak and wouldn't the spy have already been endangered? I could have sworn I heard about a ban on laptops, earlier than this week.
Click to expand...
Obviously they would know that their plan was leaked when the laptop ban went into affect but they wouldn't know from who or where it was leaked. Thanks to Trump saying the name of the city they got the info from, that narrows down their search quite a bit.
 
F

fallout

Member
Keri said:
Wait, wasn't a possible ban of laptops on incoming U.S. flights already reported? So, was there an earlier leak and wouldn't the spy have already been endangered? I could have sworn I heard about a ban on laptops, earlier than this week.
Click to expand...
The risk wasn't that information about a potential threat was leaked, it was that information about the source was leaked.
 
R

Ricerocket

Member
This fucking kid. Gotta brag about his info to his buddies in Russia to gain cool points without any regards to something as important as a spy deep within ISIS that could help stop them.
 
X

Xando

Member
nephilimdj said:
Israels role in Syria is just bombing runs of arm caches of Hezbollah that come from lebonon and Iran, article makes it sound like Israel is some important Ally there, Israel is pretty much doing its own thing and not making a major impact.
Click to expand...
What does bombing Assad and Hezbollah have to do with them apparently having a high ranking ISIS plant?
 
Y

yanipheonu

Member
I'm pretty sure if they told Trump that space aliens are real, and they've got a bunch of them at Area 51; he'd spill the beans and even brag about it.
 
S

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
Keri said:
Wait, wasn't a possible ban of laptops on incoming U.S. flights already reported? So, was there an earlier leak and wouldn't the spy have already been endangered? I could have sworn I heard about a ban on laptops, earlier than this week.
Click to expand...

I am going to guess that what Trump told the Russians was far more specific than a laptop ban communicated by the TSA.

We already know from the WaPo that the city he is in was communicated. I am sure the sort of fine detail we never know about was shared.
 
K

Keri

Member
Hellsing321 said:
Obviously they would know that their plan was leaked when the laptop ban went into affect but they wouldn't know from who or where it was leaked. Thanks to Trump saying the name of the city they got the info from, that narrows down their search quite a bit.
Click to expand...

fallout said:
The risk wasn't that information about a potential threat was leaked, it was that information about the source was leaked.
Click to expand...

Thanks for more clarification. I missed the part about him leaking the city. The initial reports would have put the spy in danger, because obviously the pool of suspects is limited to the people who knew of a plan concerning a laptop, but spilling information about the city really really narrows the search for the spy.
 
N

NullPointer

Member
SoulUnison said:
Literally everything I was told Hillary was dangerous because of Trump's done in his first few months and even doubled down on.
Click to expand...
I know the feeling.

When I last had it out with my Trump supporting mother that was the crux of the argument.

For more than eight years I've heard nothing but her paranoid ramblings and dire warnings, and now every extreme she was trying to warn me the Dems were heading towards is happening clearly in the light of day under Trump. Its maddeningly blind hypocrisy. And even though she said she was growing upset with Trump - something she expected me to sympathize with - her disappointment stemmed from him not listening to Bannon enough.

So I can't say the argument was won, but she's no longer interested in actively following politics, is canceling her cable subscription and the 24 hour news channels with it, and won't defend the man any more.

I guess she's resigned. Now its Trump's turn.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E3 is Officially Dead
2 3 4 5
238
12K
jcorb replied
Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, Interested in Buying Tik-Tok
2 3
143
7K
Gameplay Gods Bless replied
  • Locked
Taliban vs ISIS K continues suicide bomber kills 50 in suspected ISIS attack on Afghanistan mosque as the country descends further into chaos
1
746
chromhound replied
Apple Sued by DOJ for Illegal Monopoly over Smartphones
2 3 4 5 6
270
12K
PaintTinJr replied
  • Locked
Rumors of U.S. Secretly Harboring Top China Official Swirl
Rumor
13
2K
fran.fernandez replied
Top Bottom