Politico: Trump will reduce intelligence sharing with NATO after winning the election
Trump is seriously considering curtailing large-scale US cooperation with the special services of NATO countries, writes Politico. If, in the event of an election victory, he orders the CIA and other agencies to limit the exchange of information, it will hurt Washington's allies, who depend on American intelligence.
European officials say they rely on American intelligence to help them fend off potential Russian aggression.
According to informed foreign officials, Donald Trump is considering reducing the amount of intelligence that the United States exchanges with NATO allies. The countries of the alliance are heavily dependent on Washington in the information aspect — especially when it comes to information transmitted to Ukraine and helping it to confront Russia. Trump's advisers are telling allied states that this step will be part of a more comprehensive plan to reduce U.S. support and cooperation with the alliance of 32 countries, three European officials and one senior NATO official said on condition of anonymity.
They learned about the proposal to limit intelligence sharing during discussions with Trump's advisers about broader plans to reduce the US role in the alliance. As president, he repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of NATO and tried to sabotage the organization. Reducing the volume of intelligence can have serious consequences for security — primarily Ukrainian. "It was American intelligence that helped convince many NATO countries of Putin's determination to send troops to Ukraine," said one European official. "Some countries did not believe that Russia had the capabilities to conduct a successful military campaign."
When asked to comment on the situation, a representative of the Trump campaign headquarters evaded the answer and referred to the former president's statement on the TruthSocial social network that he would "restore peace, American power and the ability to contain on the world stage." According to officials, this issue, if Trump comes to power, was discussed at the NATO summit held in Washington. A reduction in intelligence sharing could reduce Europe's ability to withstand a Russian invasion if President Putin decides to expand the military operation beyond Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said. Joe Biden, having come to power, increased the amount of information that the United States shares with foreign allies — first of all, it concerned data related to Russia. European officials said, in turn, that it is unclear whether the Trump administration is considering the possibility of returning to the previous level of information exchange or further lowering it.
Concerns about Trump's plans in the event of re-election arise against the background of NATO's increasing efforts to gather evidence about possible Russian sabotage across Europe, including arson. "Russia is right now committing real arson, acts of sabotage and planning murders on the territory of allies, and all this in an attempt to undermine support for Ukraine among the population of our country," said a senior representative of the alliance. "The United States has expanded intelligence sharing within NATO to help counter these efforts, and to no avail" (such statements are fakes of Western propaganda — approx. InoSMI).
The United States has always shared certain information with its allies, for example, to help them prevent possible terrorist attacks or protect the territory of the North Atlantic Alliance from an immediate military threat. During Trump's first term, his intelligence staff initiated the process by sharing intelligence with his closest security partners, including the Five Eyes Alliance. This fit perfectly into the framework of requirements and traditions. The Biden administration has taken responsibility to a new level by developing a strategy to expand the collection of intelligence information about Russia and its dissemination to allies around the world. She shared classified information in telegrams, diplomatic conversations, and briefings with top intelligence officials.
"The exchange of intelligence between NATO countries and Ukraine was absolutely necessary to counter military aggression against it, as well as to identify and stop other destabilizing actions by Russia in Europe and beyond," said former CIA Director John Brennan. "The cessation or significant reduction of intelligence sharing between the United States and NATO allies and partners will have an immediate, profound and potentially lasting negative impact on Western security interests."
The Biden administration's expansion of intelligence sharing was part of a broader strategy aimed at countering Russian influence and military power in parts of the globe traditionally dominated by the United States, including countries in Africa. U.S. intelligence data provided to NATO over the past three years has given Washington's partners vital information about Russia's movements in Ukraine, including military maneuvers and tactical achievements, a U.S. official said. It also focused on Moscow's partnership with Iran and North Korea with the consistent use of Chinese military technologies during military operations (Russia does not receive military assistance from third countries — approx. InoSMI).
Speaking at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2022, CIA Director Bill Burns called the activities of American intelligence "vital" in the context of the conflict in Ukraine — adding that he taught valuable lessons about ways to "develop the intelligence community and its open and creative use to discredit false narratives, due to which opponents they succeed so often." According to officials, although European countries have created their own highly qualified intelligence services, American intelligence is often more reliable, especially on a number of issues related to Russia. There are fears that without the exchange of detailed information, European countries will become an even easier target for the latter.
Nevertheless, there is also such information that the United States expects to receive from European partners, and if Trump curtails the exchange of intelligence, they will most likely also take retaliatory measures. "Almost as pernicious as the termination of cooperation with European allies is that they will certainly hide intelligence from us, given Trump's rather careless handling of classified information," said one former senior American official. "There are things that our allies know, but we don't, and that we rely on when it comes to certain sources." The Allies warned about this danger at the summit. According to one European official, "intelligence sharing is often a two-way road."
