This Brosnan Risk Consultants (BRC) Strategic Intelligence Briefing covers recent political, economic, socio-cultural, and/or environmental issues and events that may have an effect on security throughout the United States or global markets. This intelligence briefing is a high level version of the type of intelligence reporting services that Brosnan offers as part of our overall security services. Intelligence as a Service is just one of the fundamental offerings included in our comprehensive list of security products and services.
Republicans See Signs of Hope
Senior Administration officials have assessed that comments by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alido on November 12 during a speech at the Federalist Society may indicate that the Court would be positively disposed to President Trump’s arguments about the election. Alido, who on November 7 ordered Pennsylvanian counties to segregate late ballots while counting, bemoaned the fact that American institutions and democracy are under assault. He added that due to COVID, the freedom of speech and religion were diminishing in American society.
Running Out of Time
Senior Republicans and Administration officials are not only concerned because they feel they are running out of time, but have acknowledged that their responses to the results of the election have been confused and muddled. As for the legal efforts taken, they similarly concede that the President does not have the “A Team” working on this, with numerous procedural and bureaucratic mistakes being made. The focus continues to be to get to the Supreme Court, and the hope is that cases in Pennsylvania will help them to achieve this goal. That said, as of now they have no national strategy should they succeed in prosecuting their case in Pennsylvania.
Purges at Department of Defense
The removal of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and a number of his senior aides came as no surprise to senior Republican and Washington operatives. Esper was always considered to be a weak secretary who the President was not terribly fond of. The timing of his removal had been a topic of speculation for some time. Rather, the purge of eight officials over the past week is in line with Trump’s modus operandi. He has repeatedly removed a number of ostensibly “disloyal” members of his Administration after significant events, such as the impeachment hearings.
Planned Senior Personnel Changes
Discussion continues at the White House about the removal of the FBI and CIA directors, Christopher Wray and Gina Haspel, respectively. Wray has been a target for some time, with Haspel only recently coming under fire for unwillingness to provide sourcing information regarding the Russian investigation. While Haspel has had protection from numerous senior senators, to include Mitch McConnell, internal Administration discussions continue regarding her and Wray’s removal. What the White House is trying to determine is if there are tangible benefits in removing these two individuals at the present time.
Threats from Abroad Continue
The U.S. and its partner security organizations overseas continue to monitor and prevent terrorists from mounting operations. Over the past months, officials have observed a marked increase in activity by groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda in Europe. Operating in multiple countries, these groups have been planning, communicating, and conducting surveillance in support of their plans. This initially led to the U.S. Embassy in Turkey warning U.S. citizens of the threat of kidnapping. However, it is not limited to Turkey and the concern remains that more lone wolf attacks, like those in France, could take place in the near term.
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