White House fires a top intel aide

washington — One of President Donald Trump’s top intelligence directors is the latest person to be fired in a string of shake-ups at the White House and National Security Council.

Ezra Cohen-Watnick became a focal point for top national security advisers earlier this year when CIA leaders raised concerns about him with Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

A White House statement Wednesday said, “General McMaster appreciates the good work accomplished in the NSC’s Intelligence directorate under Ezra Cohen’s leadership.” It said McMaster

general McMaster appreciates the good work accomplished in the NsC’s intelligence directorate under Ezra Cohen’s leadership

White House statement “has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward.”

McMaster moved to replace Cohen-Watnick when the concerns were raised in March, but CohenWatnick appealed to Trump’s top advisers, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, who got Trump to intervene to save his job. CohenWatnick was a protege of Trump’s initial national security adviser, Michael Flynn, having worked for him at the Pentagon’s intelligence shop.

As the NSC’s senior director for intelligence programs, CohenWatnick was one of about a dozen people in the White House with access to a full range of classified information, including details of US covert programmes. His position also gives him the ability to request intelligence products from agencies. —