Adam Schiff’s Attempt to Take Control U.S. National Intelligence Rebuffed by DNI

Richard Grenell called out Schiff Tuesday on Twitter shortly after the letter was made public, writing: “His letter was sent to the press before it was sent to me. These press leaks politicizing the intelligence community must stop,” DNI Richard Grenell stated.

President Donald Trump’s recently appointed Acting-Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Richard Grenell rebuffed House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff in an official letter.

Grenell expressed his surprise that the Trump-hating foe never praised the appointment of two women to head the counter-terrorism unit and the new DNI rejected the congressman’s belief that the House intelligence chairman should control the DNI’s day-to-day management decisions.

When Mr. Grenell, who served as a foreign service officer at the State Department, received his mandate as the acting DNI, his first instinct was to revamp the nation’s overly politicized intelligence community.

During President Barack Hussein Obama’s eight years as Commander in Chief, more was done to politicize the agencies charged with national security beginning with the appointments of Democratic Party hacks such as James Clapper, Grenell’s predecessor, FBI Director James Comey, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan and other Democratic Party minions who were appointed to key positions.

Rep. Schiff had written to Mr. Grenell on April 7 questioning Trump’s DNI’s legal authority to reorganize the Office of National Intelligence and its National Counter Terrorism Center. Never has any congressman demanded he or she manage a federal agency.

“These Democrats are playing games. They know damn well that they are not managers or agency heads. They are legislators and they are allowed to conduct oversight. Schiff is the last person you want looking over your shoulder unless you want to see top secret information plastered on the frontpage of the New York Times or Washington Post. Schiff is a leaker He is a liar. And he is a hater of his own nation and its citizens,” said former U.S military intelligence operative and ex-police official Sid Franes.

In Grenell’s April 20 reply to the Schiff, Mr. Grenell called Schiff’s proposals merely a lawmaker volunteering a number of suggestions.

The Schiff and Grenell letters seem to be the start of a “memo-war” between the congressman who led two campaigns to impeach and remove President Trump and the person Trump chose in February to direct national intelligence, including the CIA, NSA, etc.

“I must disagree with your proposals to divest the DNI of managerial competence and personnel decision-making authority, and to replace your committee’s mandate for Intelligence Community (IC) oversight with a mandate for IC administration,” Mr. Grenell wrote.

Mr. Grenell also rebutted Mr. Schiff’s allegation that a secret intelligence briefing about Russia in March was cooked. In Grenell’s reply, he wrote:

“I must also speak on behalf of the career intelligence officers at ODNI, whom your letter accuses of politicizing the briefing to Members of Congress of March 10^th’

“As the Acting DNI, I am compelled to defend these career officers from unsubstantiated indictments of their motivations and judgment. Many are offended by the accusations that they did not share unvarnished assessments. If you share with me the reports you believe provide evidence for these claims, I can promise you that I will review them with the seriousness such accusations demand.

“I must begin by voicing my surprise that your four-page letter said nothing about the historic appointment of the first female Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).

“Instead, you expressed concerns regarding the retirement of the former male Director. You erroneously cast judgement on the reason of his departure while ignoring the accomplishments of NCTC’s new leadership, two highly qualified female officers serving as the Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director. Diversity of the IC workforce should always be celebrated, and I am proud that we increased diversity within the ODNI’s senior ranks, to include more women and members of the LGBT community.”

DNI Grenell is currently downsizing headquarters – where most of the politicalizing occurred — and the NCTC in order to send more professional intelligence operatives into the field and posts abroad.

“During the eight years of Obama in the White House we’ve seen the intelligence community spying more on U.S. citizens than on foreign threats and terrorism. Why didn’t they know about the Coronavirus before it practically engulfed the world? Why do we know so little about renegade nations such as China, Russia, Iran and others?” asked former police counter-terrorism expert Louis Carmichael.

“Well, I can say that people like Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer and Jerrold Nadler find it more important to spy on American citizens who aren’t Democrats and then leak it to their fellow anti-Americans to score political points,” said Capt. Carmichael.