Installing Trump Official As Top NSA Lawyer Shows ‘Disregard’ For NatSec, Pelosi Tells DOD | Talking Points Memo

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday demanded that the Pentagon halt the installation of a White House official and Trump loyalist as the top lawyer at the National Security Agency. 


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1355179

Just freakin’ can him for failing to testify when subpeonaed.

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It’s just more fuckery by the petty revenge filled middle school in Chief. The Biden Administration can fire/replace/let-him-clean-the-closet at the NSA but it will take time and resources we COULD be using for ‘real’ work.

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Can they give him a lateral arabesque (HT Peter Principle) to something like counsel for parking lots and paper clips while they are working on getting rid of him?

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Does the NSA general counsel serve at the pleasure of the president?

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Better still, transfer him to a Federal facility somewhere in remote Alaska, or Iowa, or yes, Guantanamo Bay.

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I thought there was some kind of period during which such a hire can be fired without it being a big rigamarole.

100 days???

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From the text, this sounds like a Senior Executive Service (SES) appointment. If that is the case, there may be ways to transfer him out of the job that don’t, however, include getting him out of Civil Service.

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Also, the Ellis selection came “under pressure from the White House"

meaning pressure from the Kremlin. Our defense and intelligence agencies are compromised. Any and all tRump loyalists need to be surgically removed from government positions.

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Biden may not be able to fire him but, he can certainly reassign. Or (I saw this on Twitter) hire one of the Vindman Brothers and make Ellis work for them :grin:

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Just cut his head off! (and then we’ll have tea.)

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Ellis — who served as Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) chief counsel when Nunes chaired the House Intelligence Committee — was one of three finalists for the job, though he did not receive the highest score from a panel evaluating candidates…
“Once a candidate is selected through the merit system…"

Something must be terribly wrong with the “merit system”. It is hardly a merit system. The Pentagon spokesperson is just lying.

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Part of the delay was his failure to take the required polygraph. Has that actually happened?

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Pelosi said the last-minute onboarding of Michael Ellis as NSA’s general counsel reeked of politics

He seems like a harmless guy . . .

Oh wait, I understand he’s not that Michael Ellis. Anyone who has anything to do with Devin Nunes, including his mother, his father, and his cows, should not be involved in any way with national security, other than to be the subject of a national security investigation.

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I think it shows deep regard for national security, just not the security of this nation.

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Strip him of his security clearance on January 20. Not only will he not be qualified to work at the NSA but he also won’t be qualified to work on pretty much any political job in DC that would interest him including any of Nunes’ committee assignments.

He can work in Nunes’ Fresno district office.

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Or, as I suggested on another thread:

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I expect a very short tenure for this guy. Like tenth of a Scaramucci unit.

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Two red flags, that he wasn’t the first choice and that the White House applied pressure, makes it clear that something funky happened around this. Add in his inability to take the position for two months, and it’s obvious that they are trying to shove him through despite the national security system’s foot dragging. He obviously should not be in that position, and he won’t be staying long…even if he can’t be fired he’ll be constrained so he can’t do anything.

These Republican true believers are really the ones to worry about…Ellis did questionable things for Nunes, there’s no way he got hired without shenanigans by other true believers. The Biden administration is going to be hard pressed to find and work around all of the people who are burrowed into government, because this time most are unlikely to be the good kind who are competent and should be kept around. They are possible points of sabotage, and they need to be watched and removed the moment they step out of line.

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Republicans needed a well placed mole to keep track of any collusion cases with the Russians.

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