Kent Harrington: Trump has begun his national security purge

The US President has long denigrated the non-partisan work of his intelligence analysts, but he has finally ratcheted that up to the firing of top officials, says Kent Harrington

AFTER four years of inveighing against the US intelligence officials and analysts who revealed Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, Donald Trump is finally acting on his paranoia by carrying out a purge. The recent defenestration of top US national-security officials may come as a shock to Americans, but it is no surprise to the Russians. For months, the joke making the rounds in Moscow goes that if Trump would only fire his spy chiefs, he could get his intelligence directly from the source: Russian President Vladimir Putin.