Tim Weiner, Columnist

Presidents Have Always Needed Unwelcome CIA Advice

History shows that faulty intelligence is dangerous. And that valid intelligence, unheeded, is worse.

January 10, 2017 at 1:30 PM UTC

Corrected

January 10, 2017 at 7:44 PM UTC

Tim Weiner has reported on national security for the New York Times and won the National Book Award for "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA."

Wisdom is something else.
Photographer: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

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The Central Intelligence Agency was created 70 years ago to prevent another Pearl Harbor and fight Soviet communism. Since then, almost every U.S. president has had his troubles with the agency. But until now, none picked a fight with the CIA between his election and his inauguration.

President Donald Trump is going to have to decide how he wants to coexist with his premier spy service. Resentful of its conclusion that the Russian government backed his bid for the White House, Trump is already talking about restructuring it. Like it or not, he’ll have to take its views into account.