Briefing Trump was 'far and away the most difficult' than any other president, CIA-published book says

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Intelligence agencies struggled to brief President-elect Trump, a book published by the CIA said.

The author described Trump as "far and away the most difficult" new president to brief.

Trump was, like Nixon, "suspicious and insecure about the intelligence process," the book said.

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Briefing Donald Trump as he prepared to enter the White House was more difficult than briefing any other incoming president, a book published by the CIA said.

The publication, "Getting to Know the President," by John L. Helgerson, a former intelligence officer, charted different presidents' interactions with intelligence agencies.

In it, Helgerson wrote: "For the Intelligence Community, the Trump transition was far and away the most difficult in its historical experience with briefing new presidents."

Helgerson's book was published by the CIA for US officials. The CIA says in the book that its contents are the author's, and do not reflect the position of the CIA or any other US government agency.

Helgerson wrote that the only comparable experience to Trump's transition was that of President Richard Nixon.

"The only (and imperfect) analogue was the Nixon transition," he said, after Nixon "effectively declined" to work with the intelligence community and instead got his information through an intermediary.

"Trump was like Nixon, suspicious and insecure about the intelligence process, but unlike Nixon in the way he reacted," Helgerson wrote.

"Rather than shut the IC out, Trump engaged with it, but attacked it publicly," he added.

Helgerson's book was first published in 1996. It has been updated with each new president.

Red_acted_1 on November 29th, 2021 at 15:00 UTC »

Just imagine you're brought in to explain a situation that you're an expert in to someone. The whole time they don't stop interrupting and "correcting" you. When you try to get them to stop they mentally shut down and get anxious and defensive: dismissively claiming they're the expert, that nobody knows more about the subject than they do, even though what they are saying is either inaccurate, overly simplified, or completely unrelated. They then start belittling your education, your experience, your demeanor, and eventually starts making even more personal attacks on your looks, your wife, and your kids. All the while they're still ignoring everything you were brought in to do, like it's some kind of uncomfortable stamina exercise, just seeing if you will break.

But you have to keep going, not just because it's your job but because you know thousands of lives could be in jeopardy if you don't do your job.

wraithtek on November 29th, 2021 at 12:45 UTC »

An incurious anti-intellectual narcissist incapable or unwilling to learn information necessary to do the job. So high on himself that he “knows more than the generals” and only listens to those who manage to compliment him enough, a tactic several foreign leaders employed to get him to pay attention for half a second.

666penguins on November 29th, 2021 at 12:33 UTC »

Remember when Trump couldn’t stand still until they started switching the briefings to pictures and graphs.