Sam Vinograd Profile picture
Feb 28, 2018 13 tweets 6 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
1) The @WHNSC serves a lot of functions. One is helping senior officials prepare for meetings w/ foreign counterparts. This includes @WHNSC Directors - who are experts in their fields - working with members of the interagency to get intelligence + updated information on outreach
2) + current and longer term policy goals. This way every meeting a senior official has is well prepared and the official has the benefit of the best analysis and expertise so that he/ she can represent the USG in the manner that best advances US #natsec interests
3) Meetings with foreign officials are opportunities to advance US policy and to also gather intelligence on what other countries are doing/ thinking. If you (Kushner) aren't well prepared for a meeting it is at best a missed opportunity to advance US #natsec and at worst a risk
4) If you don't prepare with @WHNSC in advance you aren't just unprepared, you're giving another country the upper hand
5) If you don't disclose those meetings to @WHNSC you're actively providing another country with more information than the US government that you are supposed to represent - the foreign country knows something the USG doesn't.
6) This makes you a knowing or unknowing foreign asset because the foreign government knows something that you haven't disclosed (this is a big issue for security clearances)
7) It also makes the USG look disorganized. If for example a @WHNSC director doesn't know that Kushner met with a foreign official and is speaking with the country that he met with and is caught off guard, that sends a clear message that we aren't even talking to each other.
8) Remember @PutinRF_Eng is running an ongoing attack to send the message that we are divided and that our institutions aren't credible. This scenario adds fuel to the fire.
9) So this Kushner @washingtonpost reporting is either a case study in hubris -- Kushner thought he knows better than the combined expertise of the USG or he is working on a very unamerican #natsec policy. Why would he want a foreign government to know something the USG doesn't?
I worked @WhiteHouse @WHNSC for years and cannot think of a single time any senior official @WhiteHouse met with a foreign contact and didn't coordinate in advance with appropriately cleared @WHNSC staff and/or didn't disclose to that same group.
11) Counterintelligence is a tricky business. Without proper training or preparation assets don't know that they're being manipulated and/ or what to watch out for. Case in point in the @shaneharris @washingtonpost story: washingtonpost.com/world/national…
sorry one more 12) to be clear often a very small group of @WHNSC staff may know about a foreign meeting or contact because of sensitivity, but McMaster certainly should know and others w/ appropriate clearances (and if appropriately cleared the right expertise)

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More from @sam_vinograd

Oct 7, 2018
Reading this @StateDept press release on @SecPompeo 's meetings in the Koreas: 1) What did we give up to get the North Koreans to refrain from calling @SecPompeo a gangster this time?
2) Why are we second Summiting when we haven't achieved the meat of what we wanted out of the first? If a "historic" Singapore Summit just led to red herrings, why further normalize Kim with a second?
3) The 4 elements of the Singapore statement can be found here via @WhiteHouse whitehouse.gov/briefings-stat…
Read 5 tweets
Oct 4, 2018
Heading onto @cnni to speak with @RobynCurnowCNN about why not all election interference is created equal. @VP speech today was a dangerous use of time and attention. All it takes is some overt propaganda in local newspapers and @WhiteHouse refocuses its election meddling ire
.@VP did cite covert action, front groups, and propaganda in his speech - in my experience you don't publicly reference covert action unless there's been a substantial discussion with the IC about publicizing this info.
question is what mission of this reported China covert action was / is? Sow divisions? Create confusion? Are Chinese bots fighting with Russian ones in cyberspace? via @USATODAY usatoday.com/story/news/wor…
Read 4 tweets
Sep 29, 2018
Prepping for my discussion tonight with @secupp and want to highlight this section of @realDonaldTrump 's UNGA speech: "The United States is the world’s largest giver in the world, by far, of foreign aid. But few give anything to us."
The US foreign assistance budget is designed around where assistance is needed. We consistently review needs to make sure our $s are well spent, but we have not, to date, used $ to buy something in return. We have used foreign assistance to ease suffering, grow economies, + more
bc we determined that these objectives were in fact "giving" something back to the US and our national security.
Read 5 tweets
Sep 26, 2018
I am a woman and I am “angry” - anyone else?
.@AshaRangappa_ and I are speaking about what “security” means to us, as women, this afternoon. What a day to be having this conversation. We should be having it every day.
.@ChuckGrassley I see several reasons for complaint.
Read 5 tweets
Sep 26, 2018
.@realDonaldTrump just mixed up alleged Iran and North Korea hostage payment reporting.
He also gave us a “readout” of topics discussed during his 1:1 with Putin — no mention of election meddling - but there wasn’t anyone else in the room so ....
.@POTUS reportedly canceled a meeting with @JustinTrudeau over a trade dispute but wants to meet with Putin and Kim again. Two men who use WMD, cyber attack us, and more. But milk tho ....
Read 4 tweets
Sep 26, 2018
Who will get the last laugh at this @realDonaldTrump presser? Head to @CNNSitRoom to find out
Well it looks like the media factually speaking. They just laughed.
Repeated that China is trying to interfere in our election but he and Xi have a great relationship. Is getting on the President's friends and family list as easy as attacking us?
Read 6 tweets

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