National Security Adviser John Bolton can't seem to see eye to eye with anyone in the Trump administration, including President Trump, The Washington Post reports.
The peace negotiations in Afghanistan have reportedly pushed the once-influential Bolton to the sidelines. When the president's top aides were preparing for a meeting at Trump's golf resort in New Jersey last month to discuss the peace deal that would be presented to Afghan and Taliban officials in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Doha, Qatar, Bolton was reportedly not originally invited out of concern that he would oppose the agenda and leak info to the press after the meeting. "His team has a reputation for losing and leaking," one senior administration official with direct knowledge of the discussions said. Bolton denies that portrayal.
Bolton eventually snared a spot at the table, but during the meeting he and Trump exchanged opposing views over policy options on Afghanistan. Bolton reportedly opposes the diplomatic efforts focused on U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for Taliban concessions espoused by the U.S. envoy leading the negotiations, Zalmay Khalilzad.
Bolton also reportedly differs with many members of the administration when it comes to situations involving Iran and North Korea. In each situation, Bolton appears to oppose the more conciliatory tone being used by the White House. Tom Wright, an international security expert at the Brookings Institution, said that "for quite a while" Trump and Bolton were "compatible," but that no longer seems to be the case. "I can't think of another example where a national security adviser was sidelined like this," Wright said. Read more at The Washington Post. Tim O'Donnell
President Trump's border wall is putting archaeological discoveries at risk before they're even discovered.
Trump's border wall has jeopardized several government projects as he aims to drain military projects to fund its construction. It has raised protests from environmental groups who say it'll run through wildlife refuges. And as an internal National Park Service report obtained by The Washington Post reveals, it's likely to destroy or damage 22 unexcavated sites containing artifacts of the ancient Sonoran Desert peoples.
The sites in question are all within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a 330,000-acre area of protected wilderness that sits along the Arizona-Mexico border. It has been home to "desert-dwelling peoples" for at least 16,000 years and contains well-preserved artifacts thanks to its arid environment, the Post reports. There's currently a five-foot vehicle barrier along that section of the border, but Trump plans to turn it into a 30-foot steel wall. Two miles of that wall surrounding a border crossing in Lukeville, Arizona have already been built.
In its report, the National Park Service says some archaeological areas have already been damaged as the Trump administration's amped-up enforcement measures lead border patrol agents to drive recklessly through Organ Pipe Cactus. If construction continues, experts warn damage could get even worse. The several salt springs in the monument area could also dry up if groundwater is pumped to build the concrete wall, NPS continued.
CBP said it looked at "most" of the archaeological sites in question and said just five are within 60 feet of the proposed border area, and that only one showed signs of artifacts buried nearby. Read more at The Washington Post, and find the whole report here. Kathryn Krawczyk
Edward Snowden's book, Permanent Record, was only released Tuesday, but it's already causing trouble for the author.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit the same day against Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked classified information from the NSA in 2013. The lawsuit is centered on Snowden publishing the memoir without approval, which the Justice Department is alleging violates non-disclosure agreements Snowden signed with the government.
The point of the lawsuit, however, is not to prevent the the publication or the distribution of the book; the Justice Department just wants to make sure Snowden doesn't get paid for it. Therefore, the department is seeking the proceeds Snowden earns from the book's sales. "Intelligence information should protect our nation, not provide personal profit," G. Zachary Terwilliger, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. "This lawsuit will ensure that Edward Snowden receives no monetary benefits from breaching the trust placed in him."
Permanent Record reportedly reveals new details about Snowden's decision to steal files from the NSA's collection of phone and internet metadata and release them to journalists. Read more at The Washington Post and NBC News. Tim O'Donnell