As soon as Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency, media began to call for the country's democratic institutions to monitor and check the power of the executive branch. They were mostly looking to elected bodies like Congress, even one under Republican leadership, to push back.
Some expected opposition would come through the mechanisms of civil society and federalism. Others pointed to the power of the U.S. Constitution.
No one expected a challenge from the intelligence community (I.C.), but less than a month into his presidency, it is the I.C. that appears to pose the gravest threat to Trump.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported Trump's campaign team had regular contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. The source for the story was "four current and former American officials."
This week, Trump blamed the intelligence community for the leaks that brought down his National Security advisor Mike Flynn, saying: "From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. It's a criminal action, [a] criminal act, and it's been going on for a long time before me, but now it's really going on."
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-325-trump-vs-spies-being-bowie-porn-o-nomics-hollywood-s-black-list-planet-earth-2-and-more-1.3983955/a-former-cia-officer-says-u-s-intelligence-officials-could-be-justified-in-leaking-classified-information-1.3983959
