He may only be the acting Director of National Intelligence but totally unlike Rep. Adam Schiff, Richard Grenell acts like he has intelligence. He solidly slammed the usurping Intelligence Committee chairman back into place where he should be. He wasn’t buying Schiff’s desperate intimidation tactics for a single second.
Adam Schiff tried to get a little too shifty
The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence got a little too big for his britches. On April 7, he sent a letter off to ADNI Grenell with a four-page obstacle course of flaming hoops to jump through. Grenell eloquently wrote back to tell Schiff “mind your own business.”
“I must disagree with your proposals,” Grenell wrote. Schiff’s suggestions are basically asking him to “divest the DNI of managerial competence.” He’s not going to act like an idiot. Schiff is trying to usurp the DNI’s “personnel decision-making authority.” The Deep State would love for Grenell to let Schiff replace his “committee’s mandate for Intelligence Community oversight with a mandate for IC administration.” It’s not happening.
Grenell gives some insight into recent personnel changes as a courtesy, then tells Schiff to bug off. “Going forward, I encourage you to think of the relationship between your committee and the IC as that between the legislative and executive branches of government, [which it is] rather than that between a hedge fund and a distressed asset, as your letter suggests.”
Hedge funds love distressed assets because they’re so easy to push around. “Hedge funds sometimes take on an active role with the distressed firm. Some funds that own debt can provide advice to management,” Investopedia relates. ADNI Grenell doesn’t need any advice, especially not from Adam Schiff.
Standing up for his staff
After slapping Schiff around a little to get his attention, Grenell really lets him have it. He doesn’t take kindly to anyone maligning his crew. “I must also speak on behalf of the career intelligence officers at ODNI, whom your letter accuses of politicizing the briefing to Members of Congress of March 10th.” He doesn’t like it. “As the Acting DNI, I am compelled to defend these career officers from unsubstantiated indictments of their motivations and judgment.”
The staff doesn’t appreciate the undeserved accusations either. “Many are offended by the accusations that they did not share unvarnished assessments.” Grenell shows just how fit he is for the job with a real intelligence assessment. He smells a rat and Schiff looks like his pockets are stuffed with cheese.
“If you share with me the reports you believe provide evidence for these claims, I can promise you that I will review them with the seriousness such accusations demand.” You can pretty much count on never hearing about them again.
Oh, and by the way, that “fact sheet” that Schiff was whining about… “I should also clarify the purpose of the UNCLASSIFIED leave-behind Fact Sheet intelligence officials prepared for the March 10th briefing. The impetus for this document came from some Members of Congress who requested publicly-releasable information to use with constituents and the media. We must continue to provide the American public this information to enable them to decipher the information that appears in the media.” Because the media likes to lie.
Schiff’s disregard for diversity
For as friendly as Adam Schiff is with Democrat donor Ed Buck, he doesn’t seem to care much about the new found diversity in the intelligence community. Grenell began his reply by noting that there was a surprising omission in Schiff’s nastygram.
“I must begin by voicing my surprise that your four-page letter said nothing about the historic appointment of the first female Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.” Schiff had much more important things on his mind.
“Instead,” Grenell writes, “you expressed concerns regarding the retirement of the former male Director.” Schiff seems to think it’s some kind of Republican conspiracy. “You erroneously cast judgment on the reason of his departure while ignoring the accomplishments of NCTC’s new leadership.”
They now have “two highly qualified female officers.” Grenell believes “diversity of the IC workforce should always be celebrated.” Schiff should be ashamed of himself. At least Grenell is “proud that we increased diversity within the ODNI’s senior ranks, to include more women and members of the LGBT community.”
