It won’t come as a surprise if, in his innocence, President Donald Trump shared classified information to Russian leaders on their visit to the White House last week.
We all have to rein in the urge to brag, name-drop, or share salacious gossip. In the world of politics, the power-hungry are especially vulnerable to overstepping such ethical boundaries.
Perhaps in his eagerness to impress his guests, the Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey I Kislyak, Mr. Trump got carried away and let slip that he was in the know of an Islamic State terrorist plot.
For us baby boomers who practiced “duck and cover” — a euphemism for nuclear bomb drills — in elementary school, our suspicion of the Soviets became so inculcated that it’s disconcerting to see our president cozy up to today’s Russians.
Monday evening, Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security advisor, refuted that Trump had done such a thing.
But on Tuesday morning, Trump himself contradicted McMaster, tweeting it was his prerogative as president to share secret intelligence.
Also on Monday Rex Tillerson, secretary of state, said Trump didn’t know the source of the highly sensitive information.
By Tuesday afternoon, Israel came forward saying it provided the For-Your-Eyes-Only information to Trump.
SO WHAT’S the big deal?
For starters, Russia and Iran are allies, while Iran and Israel are sworn enemies.
If Israel cannot trust the United States from keeping classified information from the Russians, then the U.S. could not only lose a valuable ally in the Middle East but also its services in the intelligence game. If sources feel they will not be protected, they will dry up. Same song, second verse for Germany; third verse for the United Kingdom, fourth verse for Japan, and on and on.
On Friday, Trump departs for his first trip abroad as president. Israel and Saudi Arabia are on his agenda, as well as the Vatican and a meeting in Belgium with members of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that Trump once called “obsolete.”
It’s a sure thing Trump will try to appear as a breath of fresh air. Let’s just hope it’s not all hot.
— Susan Lynn
