Trump’s national security team purge is almost complete

Washington CNN — When Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and his deputy Sue Gordon leave their offices for the last time on Thursday, it will mark a turning point for an administration that has already endured the highest level of senior staff turnover in history. This “is a defining day in the Trump administration’s national security structure – they have finally cleared out all the national security positions in terms of senior officials,” said David Priess, a former CIA official who delivered the president’s daily briefing in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “With all the twists and turns in the Trump administration and the national security establishment and intelligence community over the past two years, at least there has been stability in one way – the DNI and his principal deputy have quietly remained an island of steadiness,” Priess said. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly clashed with intelligence officials, including Coats, over their public comments acknowledging Russia not only interfered in 2016, but also poses a threat to future elections – an assessment that was reaffirmed by former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which the President often characterized as a “political witch hunt.” Coats also drew Trump’s ire when he appeared to contradict him on various issues during a Senate hearing earlier this year. One issue, he said, involves “the management and leadership of the intelligence community itself and the role it’s playing and should play in our national security system.