CIA ATTACKS. Top Flynn Aide Fired From National Security Council
One can’t lose track of the fact that the CIA probably is less than happy with Flynn (it is hard to believe none of the sources for the Washington Post’s nothinburger yesterday were not CIA), knows it can’t get rid of him directly — that will come by the Death of the Thousand Cuts — and is just picking off his key allies.
Pompeo, of course, was between a rock and a hard place. He’s tying to gain control of an agency that is in open revolt against the administration and has demonstrated, now and under George Bush, that it is has no compunction about damaging a president and an administration if it believes its institutional prerogatives are in danger. Going along with sandbagging Townley is a small price to pay if it helps him avoid the Porter Goss treatment.