Covering Trump’s assessment

It’s mid-March. Do you know where your Worldwide Threat Assessment is? It has happened like clockwork in late January or February for decades: The heads of the federal intelligence agencies publish a report all the world to read, and explain their conclusions on the record to Congress.

This year is different. First, President Trump apparently didn’t want intel chiefs to air inconvenient truths about election security and Russia, while contradicting his line on other major dangers. Now, he seems to fear that they’ll give voice to the inconvenient truth that the country is woefully unprepared for a global pandemic, implicitly indicting his administration’s handling of the coronavirus.

Which happens to be exactly what the unreleased threat assessment says, according to Time magazine.

It’s been like pulling teeth to get the facts out. Earlier this year, the leaders of the major intelligence agencies reportedly requested that the traditionally public hearings on the assessment be held behind closed doors, an attempt to avoid a repeat of last year when Trump mocked and openly contradicted intel agencies’ takes on Iran, North Korea, the Islamic State and other issues.

Now, even that plan has apparently fallen by the wayside, with a total clampdown on the assessment in any form.

Trump may demand absolute loyalty from his staffers, but he can’t have a stranglehold on the truth. The public has a right to hear national security officials’ unvarnished assessment of the leading threats to the United States. It is just plain crazy that we even need to say this.