- Security services are concerned about foreign powers that may target Trump for his knowledge of U.S. intelligence secrets and his need for money.
- Trump “has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt … and access to almost all intelligence secrets in the free world,” said an official.
- “The risk is so apparent that everyone has considered it and each service will take its own measures to protect itself,” a source told Insider.
- Visit the Insider Business section for more stories.
With more than $ 1 billion in total debt and at least $ 340 million owed to Deutsche Bank, former President Donald Trump represents an unprecedented challenge for US and Western intelligence services charged with keeping the secrets he has been exposed daily for the past four years, according to five current or former intelligence officials in the United States and Europe.
Trump’s inability to keep U.S. intelligence secrets – and his willingness to twist intelligence to meet his political needs – were well-documented aspects of his tenure. They led to several diplomatic incidents:
‘He’s a person with a proven desire to do almost anything for money’
“So it is clear that this is a person with little regard for protecting intelligence and sources as a duty – he openly does not care,” a senior NATO intelligence officer told Insider. Like other officials willing to speak for this article, the source refused to be identified due to the extreme sensitivity of the information and the need to maintain good relations between Western forces.
“He is a person with a proven desire to do almost anything for money,” said the official. “The person has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt that, of course, will not be easy to pay, and access to almost all the intelligence secrets of the free world in the past four years,” said the official.
Insider contacted a Trump representative for comment, but received no response.
Several sources have described Trump as having access to everything any American opponent would like to know. Even with the expiration of current operations, the overview of the American system and its relationships with friends and opponents, alone, would pay dividends.
“There is absolutely a market for the secrets he knows and any intelligence service would look into it and conclude that Trump is exactly the type of person who would be happy to sell them to you,” said the official. “That’s what the intelligence services do. Who’s really going to decide that ‘No, it’s impossible, Donald Trump would never violate his country’s trust in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars?’ No one who works with intelligence would decide that. “
‘Imagine how useful a long briefing on the US security stance on an attack on Taiwan would be to [Chinese] planners? Is there a dollar amount? “‘
None of the employees wanted to go into detail about the information that Trump is afraid of compromising future business partners. One suggested that only the details of top national security priorities – involving high-level nuclear weapons, protecting the energy supply and mutual defense with closest allies – would be invaluable to a similar state, such as China or Russia.
“Only Taiwan’s information would be invaluable to the PRC,” said an official referring to the People’s Republic of China. “Imagine how useful it would be for planners to have a long briefing on the US security posture in relation to an attack on Taiwan? Is there a dollar amount?”
Multiple sources pointed to the recent decision to deprive Trump of his right to receive future briefings, a courtesy extended to former presidents, as a sign that the Biden government has acted to “stop the bleeding”, in the words of an official.
‘A problem we don’t want to talk about now’
A source close to the Biden government – who declined to be identified publicly – described the situation as “a problem we don’t want to talk about now because we don’t know if it’s a real problem and we have other things to talk about. But it sounds like something that should at least to be monitored by counterintelligence. Ensuring that other nations do not steal national secrets from ex-presidents – voluntary or not – would be part of any counterintelligence service. “
In Europe, where concerns about sharing information with U.S. intelligence that Trump could compromise was an initial concern, officials have admitted that there have been some limited meetings on potential exposure.
“There were meetings on this, but I was not involved, thank goodness,” said another military intelligence officer from northern Europe, who cooperates closely with the Americans in ISIS and Russia operations. “Our meetings will focus on things related to our service that could have leaked through the Americans in the past four years, but if you’re asking how serious it is, I would say there never was [meetings like this] about an American president and just a handful of meetings about potentially exposed EU figures. “
Read More: Some of America’s military allies believe that Trump deliberately attempted a coup and may have had the help of federal law enforcement officials.
Two other European officials confirmed the fear, but declined to comment specifically, in addition to one pointing out that, “The risk is so evident that everyone has considered it and each service will take its own measures to protect itself.”
But did Trump really pay attention to your instructions?
There is one factor that can minimize any potential damage, or even reduce the value of the goods that Trump can ride: Trump’s complete disdain for listening – or even paying attention – to briefings.
“The general material would be really useful, but the specifics can be limited, as he did not allow notes to be taken and does not appear to have covered briefings where there would be many valuable details,” said the military intelligence officer. “This is the second half of anyone’s recruitment assessment. Yes, he is greedy enough to buy … no problem, but he would be too selfish and lazy to be a good resource. Good spies pay attention to the instructions.”
Read More: NATO officials criticize Trump for delaying the military transfer to Biden while “there is a significant security situation underway with Iran that could explode at any time”