Thoughts on National Security

During the past election, one of the main talking points, and really, one of the ONLY talking points against the candidacy of Hillary Clinton was her use of a private email server, which made her vulnerable to hacking and leaks. Similarly, the lack of security in place within the DNC allowed the leaking of a huge number of emails from there as well. The GOP and 45 have both harped on this endlessly, in every debate. Their responses to wholly unrelated questions were often swiftly flipped around and back onto this topic over and over again. It was sickening and relentless. And it was also something of which past administrations have also been guilty. But this stuck--this resonated with people in our country who believe, at least verbally, that national security should be our number one priority.

And yet, so far, this administration appears to be one of the least secure of any government administration in history. I find the following two items to be quite alarming:

• National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, resigns amid confirmation that he misinformed the Vice-President about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador and much suspicion that he is/has been susceptible to bribes from the Russian government. (NYT, Politico, The Economist) Many questions about his remain unanswered--there's a thought-provoking list of these in this article from the Washington Post. It's worth  your time to take a look at this.
• Aside: I am so proud of the press for not letting up on this, especially Matt Lauer on The Today Show this morning, when Kellyanne Conway tried to brush off his questions and gave inconsistent answers.
• On Saturday night, while dining at his resort in Florida with the Prime Minister of Japan,  Shinzo Abe, 45 received news of a North Korean test of a nuclear capable missile. Instead of stepping away to deal with what is undeniably a highly sensitive matter of national security, he held a strategic planning session right there at the dinner table, in full view of the restaurant, in the presence of a foreign dignitary, outside, and using a number of unsecured devices. Members of the club were posting pictures of this meeting on social media. The level of insecurity here is both staggering and truly terrifying. In what universe is this behavior acceptable for the President of the United States? (NYT, Washington Post)
• Aside: On the same trip, there was a selfie taken by a Mar-a-Lago guest and posted online of the man responsible for carrying the nuclear football. (The Hill, Washington Post). At the very least, this is just inappropriate.

And then, of course, we have 45 himself, still using a known-to-be-buggy, insecure, personal phone to take official calls and tweet relentlessly about anything that catches his attention. I am not sure how Clinton's private email server was an offense severe enough that one of 45's campaign promises was to put her in jail, and yet, this seems to be acceptable to him and everyone around him. There's some hypocrisy here to be sure, and that's infuriating. But more importantly, this odd and misplaced arrogance about national security could easily land us in a war.

North Korea claims their missile test, conducted in direct violation of UN resolutions, was a huge success, by the way. (Reuters) <sarcasm>Comforting.</sarcasm>

Updated to add this bit of news from CNN and The Hill today: GOP Senator Calls for Exhaustive Investigation into Trump-Russia Connections -- Are they finally catching on?