New York: The presidential transition team on emphatically denied that US President-elect Donald Trump intends to restructure the country’s intelligence services, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
In his daily telephonic contact with reporters, presidential transition team spokesman Sean Spicer called that report “100 perc ent false,” adding – in unusually emphatic terms for such a telephone briefing with reporters – that “There is no truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure”, Efe news reported on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, according to officials familiar with those supposed plans, Trump wants to restructure the CIA and reduce the number of people working at the central headquarters and, at the same time, strengthen the number of agents on the ground around the world.
Besides, the daily also reported that Trump thinks the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which coordinates and supervises actions throughout the military and civilian intelligence and espionage services, has more resources than necessary and is also politicized.
“All transition activities are for information-gathering purposes and all discussions are tentative. The president-elect’s top priority is to ensure the safety of the American people and the security of the nation and he is committed to finding the best and most effective ways to do it,” said Spicer, who will become White House press secretary when Trump takes office on January 20.
In assorted Twitter posts, Trump has expressed skepticism about the work of the US intelligence services who came to the conclusion that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, are behind cyberespionage activities that unfolded during the US presidential election campaign.
Trump is slated to receive an intelligence briefing on the issue on Friday in New York at a meeting to be attended by the heads of the CIA, the FBI and the ODNI.
The president-elect has designated Mike Pompeo to be the future CIA director, but he has not announced who he will nominate to head the OCDI. EFE
–IANS