Bad Russians.

Ray McGovern describes his first day on the job if he is ever appointed CIA director:

Nor am I inclined to take seriously former National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s stated views on the proclivity of Russians to be, well, just really bad people — like it’s in their genes. I plan to avail myself of the opportunity to discover whether intelligence analysts who labored under his “aegis” were infected by his quaint view of the Russians.

I shall ask any of the “handpicked” analysts who specialize in analysis of Russia (and, hopefully, there are at least a few): Do you share Clapper’s view, as he explained it to NBC’s Meet the Press on May 30, 2017, that Russians are “typically, almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever”? I truly do not know what to expect by way of reply.^[1]

It’s a bit disquieting (he said by way of understatement) that a man such as Clapper was the most senior official in the U.S. intelligence community until recently. Just the sort of man you want advising the president on matters affecting Russia. Policy formulation based on laughable caricatures.

Notes
^[1] "My First Day as CIA Director." By Ray McGovern, Russia Insider, 2/26/18.