I love my media colleagues, but they and others being made decoys in President Donald Trump’s secret, switcheroo plane swap in Turkey last month so the president could avoid a perceived assassination threat is not the top story. We should focus on the first fact: that there was a perceived international assassination threat against the U.S. president so serious that security officials believed he had to be pulled off Air Force One, put on a separate plane and secreted away from a NATO summit in Ankara, the capital city of a member country.
That shouldn’t happen.
The escapade illustrates three worrying issues: First, whether an actual threat existed or not, there appear to be U.S. intelligence and security gaps. Second, animosity toward Trump has reached a level that such a foreign attempt would seem plausible, especially in Turkey. Third, U.S. and Israeli intelligence services have credibility problems, which many believe are being caused by the countries’ top leaders.
Was the threat real? If not, then why did U.S. officials so readily believe it?
This is a preview of a column by Kevin Baron. Read the full column here.
