The officials said the purpose was to answer one of Trump’s most persistent questions of his national security aides: Why does the US government need “so many people” abroad? As such, it was a comprehensive look at military bases, embassies and consulates, CIA stations and other intelligence posts, presented by experts sitting around a large conference table and in chairs lining the walls.”On July 20, Trump, Bannon, then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior adviser Jared Kushner and others stepped from the presidential motorcade and filed down a corridor adorned with formal portraits of former joint chiefs chairmen and into Room 2E924, identified by a small, unobtrusive plaque as “The Tank”, to join vice-president Mike Pence, Mattis and Tillerson as well as a host of briefers.In the weeks since the briefing in the Tank, Trump has split with top adviser Steve Bannon, the engine of many of his nationalist, isolationist policies. In coordinated efforts and quiet conversations, some of Trump’s aides have worked for months to counter that view, hoping the President can be persuaded to maintain — if not expand — the American footprint and influence abroad.
The implications of American retrenchment in an age of increasing international competition were also discussed, the officials said.As a student, Trump is known to be alternatively eager and easily distracted..To be successful, Mattis and Tillerson decided they should use talking points and commentary with which they believed Trump would be most familiar: the role that the military, intelligence officers and diplomats play in making the world safe for China Wholesale swimming pool pump for sale American businesses, like The Trump Organisation, to operate and expand abroad. It was part of the ongoing education of a President who arrived at the White House with no experience in the military or government and brought with him advisers deeply sceptical of what they labelled the “globalist” worldview. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, speaking just a day after the Pentagon meeting, told an audience at the Aspen Security Forum that Trump interrupted briefings so often that he and his team frequently needed to circle back to their main points multiple times. But, according to current and former US officials familiar with the meeting, it was, in reality, about much more. While the war in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq were major topics, the stationing of US personnel in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America were also covered, said the officials who were not authorised to discuss details of the highly classified briefing and spoke on condition of anonymity.”My original instinct was to pull out — and, historically, I like following my instincts,” he said. He threatened war with North Korea and agreed to send more US troops to Afghanistan, abandoning his promise to withdraw quickly.CIA chief Mike Pompeo has called Trump both an “avid” and “voracious” consumer of intelligence.
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