President Trump has issued a blizzard of executive orders, which we and others have barely begun to digest. One that caught my eye is titled Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government. It directs the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to investigate wrongdoing during the past four years:
Section 1. Purpose. The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions. These actions appear oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives. Many of these activities appear to be inconsistent with the Constitution and/or the laws of the United States, including those activities directed at parents protesting at school board meetings, Americans who spoke out against the previous administration’s actions, and other Americans who were simply exercising constitutionally protected rights.
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Therefore, this order sets forth a process to ensure accountability for the previous administration’s weaponization of the Federal Government against the American people.Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to the weaponization of law enforcement and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community.
This policy is carried out by directing the Attorney General and the DNI to investigate the actions of various agencies over the last four years, including the Department of Justice, the SEC, the FTC and the Intelligence Community, and to report to the President “with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken to fulfill the purposes and policies of this order.”
Countries that have been torn by civil war or have fallen under the heel of a dictatorship have sometimes established Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to investigate, document the wrongs committed by the prior regime, and attempt to remediate those wrongs. What Trump contemplates seems to be something of that sort, although of course on a smaller scale.
When Trump nominated Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence, I was pleased but wasn’t sure what the job would entail. The position is a post-9/11 creation, intended to coordinate the activities of the various intelligence agencies. As a practical matter, I have assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the DNI has less actual power and influence than the Director of the CIA. But this assignment likely changes that equation. Gabbard will be in charge of investigating the illegal and improper practices of the intelligence agencies, and bringing them to heel. That may be a more important responsibility than the DNI has shouldered in the past.
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