Trump is eroding trust, say ex Israeli spy chiefs
AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE agencies will be forced to change the type of information they supply to President Donald Trump, one of Israel’s leading counter-terrorism experts has said.
Brigadier General Nitzan Nuriel told the JC how the US President’s actions had raised concerns over “a point of trust” by sharing information with Russia on a planned operation against Daesh.
Mr Nuriel, former head of counterterrorism at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, said: “This will change the way the US agencies deal with the President.
“If they had been telling him directly what they had got, then they will shift a little bit.
“You take the story but clean out the sensitive details. Another mistake [would then mean] zero damage.”
Mr Nuriel, an associate at the International Institute on Counter-terrorism ruled out suggestions that Mr Trump’s actions had put an Israeli spy working inside Daesh at risk of being exposed.
He said: “They are not professional enough to conduct the sort of investigation that will lead them to the guy that supplied the information.”
Mr Nuriel said he believed the scandal would not inflict long-term harm on the relationship between the Israeli and US intelligence communities.
He said: “We all know this president is unpredictable — which is something which will have been taken into account by the intelligence agencies.
“Among agencies, there is the trust that if you share information you do not then pass it on elsewhere without first asking.
“But sharing information among leaders without pinpointing specific details is not such a big deal.
“I don’t believe this is a big crisis, it was an event, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s a lack of experience as you can see that in so many other areas.”
Meanwhile, former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit told the Times of Israel: “If I were asked tomorrow to pass information to the CIA I would do everything I could do not to pass it to them.”
Another former head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, said Israel should penalise the US over the Trump leak.