Donald Trump's tweets are 'hugely dangerous' as they reveal too much to US enemies, says Sovietologist
'As an analyst, including my time years ago as a CIA consultant doing research in the 80s, I'd have considered that a gold mine'
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump's tweets are "hugely dangerous" because they reveal too much to America's enemies, professor at the US Naval War College has said.
In a series of tweets, Tom Nichols argues Mr Trump's tweets give foreign analysts "pieces of the President's moods and thoughts that day."
Mr Nichols, who studied the politics and policies of the Soviet Union, says he "would have given anything for [leaders of the Soviet Union Yuri] Andropov or [Mikhail] Gorbachev to give me a running narrative of their mood and inner thoughts in real time."+
"As an analyst, including my time years ago as a CIA consultant doing research in the 80s, I'd have considered that a gold mine.
"And I wonder if, and or how, anyone is considering the fact that this is basically a raw feed of POTUS thoughts to foreign analysts."
He said the thought occurred to him as he reacted to former deputy attorney general Sally Yates's testimony before a Senate subcommittee on his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia.
"This is the kind of instant leadership portrait that I wouldn't want a foreign nation to have when gaming out a crisis with us," he added.
Mr Nichols said while Americans might appreciate the candour, and he thought former President Barack Obama did too much thinking out loud in front of cameras, "this is far more."
"It is, from a foreign intel analyst's viewpoint, in some ways probably more valuable than classified memos. It's real and instant.
"It shows how the President reacts under stress. It's something you never want the enemy to know. And yet it's all out there, every day.
"It's also a window into how the President processes information - or how he doesn't process info he doesn't like. Solid gold info."
He added: "These are all things I would have given anything to know, even just a fraction of this, in an analysis of any Soviet or Russia leader.
"It's not for me to tell the President how to communicate. But I find something hugely dangerous in revealing real-time POTUS reactions."
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