Citing the 'Deep State,' Trump overhauls the intelligence community
President Trump is restructuring the U.S. intelligence community as part of his campaign against the 'deep state,' which he claims is undermining his administration. Critics argue this overhaul threatens national security infrastructure without a clear strategic vision.
Why it matters
Significant changes to the intelligence apparatus could alter the U.S. approach to national security and its long-term intelligence capabilities.
John Sipher spent nearly three decades at the CIA focused on the Russians, a core part of the agency's mission. That changed dramatically after the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
"Frankly, tracking and hunting terrorists, finding people, finding a needle in a haystack was not something that we trained for," said Sipher, who served in Moscow and later ran the agency's Russia operations at CIA headquarters.
The CIA and the larger intelligence community had to adapt quickly.
"We did that by by learning, and actually even developing new technologies, computer power, data collection, drones, communications, means to defeat networks, terrorist networks."
There were real successes, such as locating Osama bin Laden in 2011 and destroying his group, al-Qaida, and later, dismantling the Islamic State.
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