Intel & politics

Is It OK for Spies to Elect a President?

It’s a tenet of the intelligence business that spies are supposed to avoid the political fray, declaring allegiance to no party or candidate, and speaking the unvarnished truth to whomever is in power.

Donald Trump has turned that tradition on its head. Compelled by a candidate whom they say poses a unique threat to U.S. foreign policy and security, dozens of current and former intelligence professionals have in the past few months lept into the political arena in an unprecedented, coordinated effort to keep a presidential nominee from being elected.

This is new territory for American spies, who, when they do criticize politicians, tend to do it retrospectively in score-settling memoirs or op-eds, and not in the heat of a presidential campaign. But just as the 2016 election has departed from tradition in so many ways, intel professionals are now feeling unleashed to try to block Trump and help his opponent get elected.