The media typically only has enough space to focus on one big story at a time. Trump’s tariffs are dominating now. Last week it was “Signal-gate”, after a journalist was added to a White House-led group chat for attacks in Yemen. Before that, the dressing down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. It’s not that other issues are ignored, exactly. Just that important developments can slide past outside the limelight. Such is the case with a lower-profile controversy related to US intelligence in recent weeks. Mishandling classified material is one thing. The apparent politicisation of intelligence analysis by the Trump administration is far more worrying, a point that should truly alarm America’s allies. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius picked up on the evidence in a recent column. Just as the Signal-gate story broke, the public version of the annual US threat assessment was released. This report carries the list of impending dangers that intelligence agencies assess to be most pressing. These documents can often suffer from a box-ticking quality and usually only warrant a background story in the media cycle. But what is so striking about the version this year is when it is laid side-by-side with the report that came before.
Five Eyes alert: Trump is skewing intelligence to suit his priorities | Lowy Institute
