The Loyalty Trap: Trump and the Undermining of US Intelligence Power
The Trump administration’s approach to intelligence shoots the messenger, undermining the community’s role of telling the President things he does not want to hear.
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WRITTEN BY
Huw Dylan
Reader in Intelligence at International Security at Kings' College London.
- Jim McLeanMedia Relations Manager+44 (0)7917 373 069JimMc@rusi.org
Footnotes
David V. Gioe and Michael V. Hayden, ‘Trump Is Breaking American Intelligence’, Foreign Affairs, 2 July 2025, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/trump-breaking-american-intelligence.
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For more on intelligence power see Michael Herman, Intelligence Power in Peace and War (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Many of the weaknesses in Russia’s analytical system are discussed in Huw Dylan et al., ‘The Autocrat’s Intelligence Paradox: Vladimir Putin’s (Mis)Management of Russian Strategic Assessment in the Ukraine War’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 25, no. 3 (2023): 385–404, https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481221146113.
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Abraham L. Newman, ‘The Enshittification of American Power’, Tags, Wired, n.d., accessed 3 December 2025, https://www.wired.com/story/enshittification-of-american-power/.
Timothy Ray, ‘Nomination of George H. W. Bush as DCI’, Studies in Intelligence 64, no. 4 (2021), https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Article_Intel_Congress_Nomination_ofGHWBush_as_DCI_Studies_65_4_December2021.pdf.
R.lowery, ‘HPSCI Members Talk Recent Oversight Efforts on the Republican Study Committee Podcast’, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 16 May 2025, https://intelligence.house.gov/2025/05/16/hpsci-members-talk-recent-oversight-efforts-on-the-republican-study-committee-podcast/; Jonathan Landay et al., ‘Lawmaker Demands Explanation for Trump Administration’s Ouster of Intelligence Analysts’, United States, Reuters, 15 May 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lawmaker-demands-explanation-trump-administrations-ouster-intelligence-analysts-2025-05-14/.
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Huw Dylan and Nicholas Stivang, ‘Emerging Technologies and National Security Intelligence’, Intelligence and National Security, n.d., 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2025.2565948.
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James Lockhart and Christopher R. Moran, ‘Principal Consumer: President Biden’s Approach to Intelligence’, International Affairs 98, no. 2 (2022): 549–67, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab210.
Lockhart and Moran, ‘Principal Consumer’.
Lockhart and Moran, ‘Principal Consumer’.
Lockhart and Moran, ‘Principal Consumer’.
Rebecca Jacobs, ‘Trump Has Said He Wants to Destroy the “Deep State” 56 Times on Truth Social’, CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 1 August 2024, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/trump-has-said-he-wants-to-destroy-the-deep-state-56-times-on-truth-social/.
Natasha Bertrand Cohen Katie Bo Lillis, Zachary, ‘Exclusive: Early US Intel Assessment Suggests Strikes on Iran Did Not Destroy Nuclear Sites, Sources Say | CNN Politics’, CNN, 24 June 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/politics/intel-assessment-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-sites.
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‘Trump’s Campaign of Retribution: At Least 470 Targets and Counting’, Reuters, 26 November 2025, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-retribution-tracker/; Haley Chi-Sing, ‘Trump Admin Aims for Killing Blow to Independence of “Deep State” Agencies’, Text.Article, Fox News, Fox News, 14 February 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/donald-trump-supreme-court-independent-agencies-deep-state-justice-department-dick-durbin.
Julie Hirschfeld Davis, ‘Trump Calls Justice Department and F.B.I. Conduct “a Disgrace”’, U.S., The New York Times, 2 February 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/us/politics/trump-blames-justice-department-and-fbi-for-conduct-he-says-was-a-disgrace.html.
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Isaac Arnsdorf, ‘Trump’s New Spy Chief Used to Work for a Foreign Politician the U.S. Accused of Corruption’, ProPublica, 21 February 2020, https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-new-spy-chief-used-to-work-for-a-foreign-politician-the-us-accused-of-corruption.
‘CREW Request State and ODNI Records on Richard Grenell’.
Eric Bradner, Sullivan Kate, ‘Trump’s Former Chief of Staff Says He Fits “Fascist” Definition and Prefers “Dictator Approach” | CNN Politics’, CNN, 23 October 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/22/politics/trump-fascist-john-kelly.
Ellen Nakashima et al., ‘National Security Agency Chief Ousted after Far-Right Activist Urged His Removal’, The Washington Post, 4 April 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/03/nsa-director-fired-tim-haugh/.
Sofia Ferreira Santos, BBC News, ‘Tulsi Gabbard Now Says Iran Could Produce Nuclear Weapon “within Weeks”’, BBC News, 21 June 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c056zqn6vvyo; ‘America’s Spies Say Iran Wasn’t Building a Nuclear Weapon. Trump Dismisses That Assessment’, PBS News, 17 June 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/americas-spies-say-iran-wasnt-building-a-nuclear-weapon-trump-dismisses-that-assessment.
PBS News, ‘America’s Spies Say Iran Wasn’t Building a Nuclear Weapon. Trump Dismisses That Assessment’.
Katie Bo Lillis, ‘Gabbard Fires Two Senior Intelligence Officials Focused on Assessing Threats to US | CNN Politics’, CNN, 14 May 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/14/politics/gabbard-fires-senior-intelligence-officials.
‘Donald Trump Has Purged One of the CIA’s Most Senior Russia Analysts’, The Economist, n.d., accessed 2 December 2025, https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/08/21/donald-trump-has-purged-one-of-the-cias-most-senior-russia-analysts.
‘Donald Trump Has Purged One of the CIA’s Most Senior Russia Analysts’, The Economist, 21 August 2025, https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/08/21/donald-trump-has-purged-one-of-the-cias-most-senior-russia-analysts.
Ryan J. Reilly et al., ‘FBI Fires, Unfires, Then Refires Agents Linked to Jack Smith Probe’, NBC News, 4 November 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-agents-tied-trump-investigations-are-fired-rcna241731.
Dylan et al., ‘The Autocrat’s Intelligence Paradox’.
Tory Shepherd, '"What Many of Us Feel": Why "Enshittification" Is Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of the Year', Science, The Guardian, 26 November 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/nov/26/enshittification-macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year-explained.
Politicization is widely discussed. See for example Uri Bar-Joseph, 'The Politicization of Intelligence: A Comparative Study', International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 26, no. 2 (2013): 347–69, https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2013.758000.
'What to Know about John Ratcliffe, Trump's Pick for CIA Director', AP News, 13 November 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-ratcliffe-cia-e5fe61f5e79206357085932f1252a852.
'US General Whose Report on Iran Nuclear Sites Angered Trump Fired', Al Jazeera, accessed 2 December 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/23/us-general-whose-report-on-iran-nuclear-sites-damage-angered-trump-fired.