WASHINGTON
— President Trump boasted about highly classified intelligence in a
meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador last week,
providing details that could expose the source of the information and
the manner in which it was collected, a current and a former American
government official said Monday.
The
intelligence disclosed by Mr. Trump in a meeting with Sergey V. Lavrov,
the Russian foreign minister, and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian
ambassador to the United States, was about an Islamic State plot,
according to the officials. A foreign ally that closely guards its own
secrets provided the information, which was considered so sensitive that
American officials did not share it widely within the United States
government or pass it on to other allies.
Mr.
Trump’s disclosure does not appear to have been illegal — the president
has the power to declassify almost anything. But sharing the
information without the express permission of the ally who provided it
represented a major breach of espionage etiquette, and could jeopardize a
crucial intelligence-sharing relationship.
The
ally, which has shared information in the past with the United States
only to see it leaked, has repeatedly warned American officials that it
would cut off access to such sensitive information if it were shared too
widely, said the former official. In this case, the fear is that Russia will be able to determine exactly how the information was collected and could disrupt the ally’s espionage efforts.
H.R. McMaster on Reports of Trump Sharing Classified Data With Russia
The national security adviser
discussed reports that President Trump boasted about highly classified
intelligence in a meeting with the Russian foreign minister and
ambassador.
By THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
Beyond
angering a partner and calling into question the ability of the United
States to keep secrets, the episode also opens Mr. Trump to criticism of
a double standard. The president made Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of
classified information through her private email server central to his
campaign, leading chants of “lock of her up” at rallies. But there was
never any indication that Mrs. Clinton exposed sensitive information
from an ally or gave it to an adversary.
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The
Trump administration pushed back on the revelation, with high-ranking
officials denying that the president discussed such highly sensitive
information with the Russian officials.
“The
president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from
terrorist organizations to include threats to aviation,” said H. R.
McMaster, the national security adviser, who attended the meeting. “At
no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed, and no
military operations were disclosed that were not already known
publicly.”
Secretary
of State Rex W. Tillerson echoed General McMaster, saying a range of
subjects came up, including “the nature of specific threats,” but not
sources, methods or military operations.
But
according to the officials, Mr. Trump discussed the contents of the
intelligence, not the sources and methods used to collect it. The
concern is that knowledge of the information about the Islamic State
plot could allow the Russians to figure out the sources and methods.
“This
story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that
both countries faced,” said Dina Powell, the deputy national security
adviser, who was also at the meeting.
The Washington Post first reported the disclosure, which immediately reverberated around Washington.
“To
compromise a source is something that you just don’t do, and that’s why
we keep the information that we get from intelligence sources so close
as to prevent that from happening,” Senator Bob Corker, Republican of
Tennessee and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told
reporters.
Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter,
“If true, this is a slap in the face to the intel community. Risking
sources & methods is inexcusable, particularly with the Russians.”
The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.
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