‘WILLFUL IGNORANCE.’ INSIDE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TROUBLED INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS

FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, THE ELITE CORE OF intelligence professionals stayed silent. But faced with President Donald Trump’s renewed attacks on America’s top spymasters and mounting security challenges around the globe, senior intelligence briefers recently took the extraordinary step of revealing their stories to TIME. Their warning: the President is endangering U.S. security with what they say is a stubborn disregard for their assessments.

These intelligence officials say Trump displays what one called “willful ignorance” when presented with analyses generated by America’s $81 billion-a-year intelligence services. The officials, who include analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves, describe futile attempts to keep his attention