Transcript

2.18.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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February eighteenth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio I
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for to day is Cindy Fraser.
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To day's front page headlines from the Washington Post are
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Federal workers detail chaotic air filled firings. Many targeted by
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Trump had excellent employee performance reviews. Our next headline, Europeans
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consider troops in Ukraine. Leaders sound out US support for
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deterrens as cease fire talks accelerate. Next, CIA to sharpen
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focus on Cartel's risk of backlash from Mexico. Intelligence sharing
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and covert action may expand our next headline as troops arrive,
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few migrants cross border. Next twenty twenty six games will
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bring world together sort of. The Milan Courtina Winter Olympics
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will shatter the model with events held in seven far
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flung villages. From the final headline from today's front page,
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Trump casts psychiatric drugs as threat to children. Now, let's
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turn to our first item, entitled Federal workers detail chaotic
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air filled firings. By Hannah Addison, Lisa Ryan, and Emily Davies.
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The first message from her manager on Saturday afternoon misspelled
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Amanda May Downey's name. The second mentioned the news about
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probationary federal workers and how the Trump administration planned to
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fire them. When Danny called her boss at a Michigan
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branch of the U S Four Service for an explanation,
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she learned her name was on a firing list. She
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would have to come into the office to sign a
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letter formalizing her termination, and she had to do it,
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but before the holiday weekend was over. I'm glad that
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our agency at least has decided we can do it
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in person, her manager said, according to a recording down
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he provided to The Washington Post, so we can add
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a little human touch to what's going on. Many federal
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government employees were dismissed over the holiday weekend as managers
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confronted a Trump administration demand to fire workers by Tuesday.
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In group texts and in online forums, they dubbed the
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air ridden run of firings as the Saint Vallandine's Day massacre.
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The firings targeted new hires on probation who have fewer
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protections than permanent employees, and swept up people with years
2:43
of service who had recently transferred between agencies, as well
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as in military veterans and people with disabilities employed through
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a program that sped their hiring but put them on
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two years probation. Most probationary employees have limited rights to
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appear dismissals, but union heads have vowed to challenge the
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mass firings in court. The largest union representing federal workers
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has also indicated it plans to fight the terminations and
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pursue legal actions. Critics warned of swift consequences as the
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administration raced to execute a vision Trump and billionaire Elon
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Musk have touted for a leaner, reshaped government. The latest
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wave of personnel actions already prompted an administrative complaint on
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behalf of workers at nine agencies, adding to more than
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a dozen legal tests of Trump's power filed one month
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into his term. The Trump administration will not disclose how
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many workers it cut since last week ahead of its
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Tuesday deadline, but the government employed more than two hundred
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thousand probationary workers as of last year. The firings have
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extended to touch employees at almost every agency, including map makers, archaeologists,
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and cancer researchers. The Post found in choices that some
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workers said contradicted a US Office of Personnel Management directive
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to retain mission critical workers. This account of how the
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Trump administration's firings played out over the weekend sowing pain
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and chaos, is based on interviews and messages with more
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than two hundred seventy five federal workers, as well as
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dozens of government records and communications reviewed by the Post.
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The Federal Aviation Ministration let go hundreds of technicians and
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engineers just weeks after a mid air collision a few
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miles from the White House killed sixty seven people, eliciting
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promises from Trump officials to improve air safety, workers said
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in interviews. FEMA, which handles the nation's natural disasters, is
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preparing to fire hundreds of probationary employees, according to four
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people familiar with the situation, who, like others interviewed for
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this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear
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of retaliation. The agency is already stretched thin responding to
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fires in California and floods in Kentucky, and the administration
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terminated scores of employees who worked to bolster the nation's
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nuclear defense, only to realize its error and start reversing.
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The firings. I'd understand as strategic reduction in force if needed,
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said one USDA employee who was fired over the weekend.
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But this was a butchering of some of our best.
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Does the public know this? The termination letters hitting inboxes
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all struck the same note. Probationary workers were getting the
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acts for poor job performance, but many of those fired
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had just received positive reviews or had not worked in
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the government long enough to receive even a single rating.
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According to interviews with federal employees and documents obtained by
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the Post, internal communications from the Office of Personnel Management
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obtained by the Post appear to tie the performance directive
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to Trump's plans. In a message send Friday to agencies,
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an o PM employee wrote that because of Trump's mandated
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hiring freeze, probationary employees had no right to continued employment.
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An employee's performance must be viewed through the current needs
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and best interests of the government in light of the
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president's directive to dramatically reduce the size of the federal workforce.
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O p M also provided a four E mail agencies
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could use to terminate workers citing performance. Buying employees and
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mass with the same claim of poor performance is illegal,
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said Jim Eisenman, a partner at Alden Law Group, a
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law firm specializing in litigation by federal employees. It violates
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federal law covering career civil service employees, he said, it
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can't be true. Eisenman said, they're clearly not articulating this
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on an individual basis, which is what makes it so suspect.
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The White House referred questions about firings to individual agencies
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and o p M. An OPM spokeswoman reiterated what the
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agency has previously said about the terminations. The probationary period
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is a continuation of the job application process, not an
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entitlement for permanent employment. Musk, whose U S. Doage Service
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is leading the drive to downsize government over the weekend,
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shared triumphant messages on x, the social media platform he owns.
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Close to two a m Monday, he reposted a picture
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of himself in a gladiator outfit and declared he was
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destroying quote the woke mind virus. A few hours after
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the post, Downey, the U. S. Forest Service employee, climbed
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into a car, she drove a half hour to her
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office and signed her name to a letter putting an
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end to the income she relies on to support three children,
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an ailing mother, and a husband who just lost his
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own job. Before she walked out, she jotted five words
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above her signature, received and accepted under duress, Mistakes, miscommunication,
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and confusion. The firing started Thursday by email and on
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video calls after the Trump administration held calls with agency
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heads ordering them to terminate most probationary and temporary employees.
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The dismissals picked up pace into the weekend, hitting thousands
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more at the Interior Department, the Department of Health and
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Human Services, and the Energy Department. Some employees said the
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proceedings seemed rushed, the details botched. Termination letters at educations
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listed the wrong job or the wrong start date. A
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legal help number offered in a notice sent to a
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small business Administration employee led to the voicemail for an
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apartment building, not a lawyer. Some firing letters seemed copy
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pasted from a form and left out the name of
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the agency where the employees worked. The Friday email to
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agencies from OPM only caused more confusion. The email at
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first directed agencies to finish all their firings by the
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close of business Monday, a federal holiday. Agency leaders were
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supposed to send a spreadsheet listing all their terminated probationary
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employees to OPM Chief of Staff Amanda Scales by eight
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pm that day, The email said. OPM later adjusted the deadline.
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The quote tracker should include quote which probationary employees have
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been terminated and which you plan to keep, The email said.
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For those who plan to keep, provide an explanation of why.
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OPM also offered a template notice agencies could send to
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fired workers. It read, in part, the agency finds, based
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on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your
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further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.
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Feeder law gives agencies wide latitude to fire probationary workers
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so long as they provide written notice as to why
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he is being separated and the agency's conclusions as to
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the inadequacies of his performance or conduct. The Alden Law
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Group and Democracy Forward, a legal group that has challenged
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several Trump policies dating back to his first term, filed
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a complaint on behalf of fired probationary employees. US District
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Judge Tanya s. Chutkin is weighing a request from a
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group of states to block Musk's team from accessing sensitive
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data and ousting employees from seven federal agencies. In a
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hearing Monday, she signaled that she may reject the complaint,
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saying that DOGE appeared to be moving unpredictably, but that
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the plaintiffs had not pointed to enough evidence of irreparable
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harm to justify an immediate ban on its activities. Government
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personnel rules state that newly hired career employees serve probationary
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terms of one to two years, with attorneys and others
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who do specialized work falling into the lengthier category. Others,
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including scientists, can be hired for limited terms of one
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to four years, depending on the agency and role. Some
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of these have been let go, federal workers said in interviews.
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Others who served at one agency but transferred to another
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job elsewhere in the government in interviews, reported being dismissed
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since a probation clock starts anew with a new agency.
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In one division within the National Institutes of Health NIH,
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firing emails began to go out Friday morning without supervisor's knowledge.
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Prompting a division director to call an all hands meeting
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that afternoon. There, the director said all probationary workers were
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being terminated. According to a probationary employee, there were two
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mistakes on the list of probationary people. The director noted,
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which leadership was working to fix. The NIH employee hoped
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she was one of the mist She waited, anxiety building
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until six p m. Saturday, when she got her answer
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in the form of an email stating her quote ability, knowledge,
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and skills no longer quote fit the agency's needs. Directors
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at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services known as
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CMS were told Friday to reassure their probationary workers they
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would not be targeted, said a manager there. Then on
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Friday afternoon, probationary workers began to be quote deactivated in
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CMS systems, losing their access and user profiles with no notice.
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The letters started coming in a trickle at noon the
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next day, then a flood. The manager said. By Saturday
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evening it was clear all had been cut. Americans have
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long held an appetite for government reform, but the breakneck
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pace of change could imperil public services, said Donald Kettle,
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a professor emeritus at the University of Marriage who specializes
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in the civil service. If there's any one saying that
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anyone on government's inside would quietly agree about, it's that
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the current civil service is badly broken and the system
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is full of wasteful bloat, Kettle said. But a clumsy
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fix is worse than no fix at all. It's like
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going to a meat market, giving a piece of steak
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and trying to cut out the fat with a sledgehammer
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that would only make a mess of the meat. Above
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fully successful fired for performance. One Transportation Department worker found
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out he was fired on Valentine's Day, just after putting
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his children to bed as he sat down to watch
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a movie with his wife. An agriculture employee discovered he
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was terminated the morning after attending an ex partner's funeral.
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A Natural Resource Conservation Service employee was cut months after
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the government paid twenty thousand dollars to relocate his family
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to North Dakota. Others targeted in the wave of firings
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fixated on the emails explaining why struggling to understand. Employees
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who were told their performance was an issue said they
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had earned evaluations reviewed by the Post that offered evidence
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of their good work above fully successful, read a November
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assessment of a fire General Services Administration worker. An outstanding
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year consistently exceeding expectations, stated a review for a former
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NIH employee whose manager credited her for mastering a steep
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learning curve and becoming an invaluable asset. One well rated
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Veterans Affair staffer texted her boss to complain after she
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was fired. In text messages obtained by the Post, he replied,
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it states its due to your performance, which is not true.
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Your performance has nothing to do with this. Others were
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stunned to find themselves included in the approbationary category. A
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federal nurse with more than five years of government employment
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who recently moved under military orders with her spouse and
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had to switch agencies as a result. Now she's out
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of a job. A veteran of the National Park Service
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who had worked at parks including Yosemite, Shenandoah and the
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Great Smoky Mountains last year left a permanent position to
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accept a promotion in a new park. There, she was
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told she'd have to serve one year probation. On Valentine's Day,
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she was fired for quote performance, ending a quarter century
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of service. It is very brutal, she said, especially after
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working and dedicating most of my life to the NPS.
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Some lamented that they had hoped to forge careers in
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federal service but won't get the chance. Luke Graziani, a
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disabled Army veteran, was five weeks from completing his probation
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year on Friday when he logged into his work computer
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at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Hospital. Waiting on the screen
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was a boiler play termination he now citing performance concerns.
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Graziani printed out the message and took it to his boss,
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who was shocked and promised to submit a request for
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exemption your critical staff. Grasiani recalled his boss, saying, we're
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going to try. Graziani, who is forty five and has
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four children, had believed until this weekend that his veteran
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status would protect his job. He served twenty years in
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the Army, first as a supply specialist and then in
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public affairs, deploying for two tours in Iraq and another
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two in Afghanistan before retiring in twenty twenty three. In
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the hours after his termination, Graziani tried to figure out
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what to do. Then he thought of Douglas A. Cohan's,
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the newly appointed Veterans Affair Secretary, who vowed in his confirmation.
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Hearing that quote, we will not stop until we succeed
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on behalf of the men and women who have warned
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the uniform, Graziani said down and composed a letter quote,
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you see, I'm a veteran too, just like you, Secretary Collins.
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I spent those same hot nights in Iraq waiting for
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the all clear after an incoming round set off the
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alert system, praying that there wouldn't be another, he wrote.
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Then he asked for his job back, quote, this can't
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be how my service to my country ends. As of Monday,
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Collins had not replied. Derrick Hawkins and Breonna Sachs contributed
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to this report. Our next tutum for today's front page
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is entitled Europeans consider troops in Ukraine. Leaders sound out
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U as support for deterrence as ceasefire talks accelerate. By
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Ellen Francis from Brussels, European leaders held an urgently arranged
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meeting Monday, in part to discuss the potential deployment of
17:53
their troops to Ukraine under a ceasefire deal. As contacts
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accelerate between the United States Andrussia over halting the war,
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the Trump administration has been seeking to learn what forces
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and weapons European countries could commit, while the Europeans, for
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their part, have been sounding out the Trump team about
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what kind of military backing would be available, for instance,
18:16
intelligence or air defenses. The prospect of deploying troops to
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Ukraine has gained traction among some European leaders in recent
18:24
days as the Trump administration has moved quickly toward opening
18:28
direct negotiations with Moscow. Ukraine's European backers are scrambling for
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a role in the talks, which are advancing without them
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but could reshape the continent's security landscape. US and Russian
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officials are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
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French President Emanuel Macron convened a meaning of some of
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the continent's top leaders in Paris on Monday to spur
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planning on European support for Ukraine and to forge a
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consensus on a potential deployment. Macron held a twenty minute
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phone call with President Donald Trump ahead of the meeting.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced for the first time
19:08
Sunday night that he was ready to deploy British boots
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in Ukraine as part of a deal if necessary, which
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could pressure other European leaders to make similar pledges. After
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Monday's hours long huddle, the British leaders said that it
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was early to say how many troops and that there
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must be a U S backstop, Yet others, including Germany
19:30
and Poland, showed hesitation to send their forces. German Chancellor
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Olaf Schultz, asked if his country would deploy soldiers, called
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the discussion completely premature as the war rages. For me,
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it is quite clear that this is an inappropriate debate
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at the wrong time about the wrong topic. He said.
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He welcomed talks to end the conflict, but said this
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does not mean there can be a dictated peace, and
19:57
called for a common front between Europe and the United States.
20:02
While Washington has ruled out US troops in Ukraine, European
20:06
officials say the Trumpet team has not excluded the prospect
20:10
of supporting a European force and has asked what kind
20:13
of US backing might be necessary. The European requests include intelligence,
20:19
surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and potential air cover or some
20:24
help with air defenses to protect the force for Officials
20:28
briefed on the discussion said a US questionnaire sent to
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European capitals about forces and equipment they could free up
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for Ukraine has also spawned more serious consultations in recent days,
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said the officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition
20:44
of anonymity to share sensitive deliberations. The latest iteration under
20:50
discussion involves a reassurance or deterrence force of a few brigades,
20:55
possibly twenty five thousand to thirty thousand troops, who would
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not be stationed along the contact line, but would stand
21:02
ready as a show of force if Russian forces tried
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to restart the war. They said. The troops could be
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backstopped by more forces outside Ukraine in case they need
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to ramp up and move quickly. France has done more
21:16
advanced military planning than others and estimates that it could
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commit nearly ten thousand troops, although other European allies remain
21:24
more uneasy or have constrained militaries. Two of the officials
21:28
said France and Britain, the only two nuclear powers among
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the Europeans, have been at the forefront of the discussions,
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which have involved at least a dozen countries, including Poland,
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the Netherlands, Germany, and Nordic and Baltic states. Dutch Defense
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Minister Reuben Breckelmann's told the Washington Posts the plan would
21:50
need more than just US political backing. You also want
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to have the escalation dominance, he said, if tensions would
21:58
arise and there would be any and we need to
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have the United States on board. It is of course
22:05
about security guarantees for Ukraine, but it's directly related to
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our defense and turns within NATO, he said. On the
22:13
sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, we have discussions among
22:18
European countries and with the US about what every country
22:22
can do over the next couple of weeks. It needs
22:25
to become more specific in terms of numbers. It's a
22:29
big puzzle with many pieces that we need to bring together.
22:32
He added warnings to Russia as Trump promised a deal
22:37
to halt the war. European allies recently grew open to
22:41
the idea of sending in troops, which had triggered an
22:44
uproar when Francis Macran first suggested it last year. European
22:50
leaders have quietly held discussions on troops in Ukraine for months,
22:54
but have yet to draft a concrete plan, With some
22:57
countries hesitant about committing troops or moving forward without more
23:02
clarity from the United States about its intentions for Ukraine.
23:06
The European plans have gained greater urgency as Trump officials
23:10
landed on the continent this month and made clear that
23:14
Washington is more than willing to move without them. European
23:18
allies have been split on the nature of a deployment,
23:21
including the force's size and mandate, and the extent of
23:25
US backing needed. Attempts to make military plans are also
23:29
hamstrung by the fact that the parameters of a deal
23:32
with Russia, such as the lines along which the conflict
23:35
might be frozen, remain elusive or have not been fully
23:39
articulated by the Trump team. Still, officials agreed that U
23:43
S support would be critical, and that they would welcome
23:47
clear warnings from Washington to Russia publicly or privately, against
23:52
any attempts to attack the force or re ignite a
23:55
full blown conflict. Another key question for the Europeans is
24:00
how to respond if Russia were to attack the force.
24:04
One proposal was for a mutual defense clause among countries
24:07
in the European Coalition which would not operate under the
24:10
NATO flag. It should be clear that the force is
24:14
ready to hit back if its hit, and it should
24:17
be able to ramp up quickly, said a European diplomat.
24:21
In a normal world, it would be too early to
24:24
plan without the ceasefire conditions. But they are going to
24:27
negotiate over our heads, the diplomat added. This is a
24:31
means to say to the U S, we are ready
24:34
to give this if you do that. For many European states,
24:39
a deployment would also require public support at home and
24:43
draw on already stretched military resources. France has more leeway
24:48
than others, including Britain, in freeing up troops, partly because
24:52
of a French draw down in Africa. Some countries, such
24:56
as Poland or Germany, have national elections coming up and
25:00
are wary of making big moves at a time when
25:03
Russia's war in Ukraine has become more politicized. Some have
25:07
also been nervous about taking risks without greater US involvement,
25:12
and the Netherlands, for example, will need approval from parliament.
25:17
We do not plan to send Polish soldiers to Ukraine,
25:21
but we will support, including in terms of logistics and
25:24
political backing, the countries that may wish to provide such
25:27
guarantees in the future, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said
25:31
Monday Chicken and the egg. The European idea also centers
25:37
on boosting weapons and training for the Ukrainian army so
25:40
it can hold what is expected to be an unstable
25:43
ceasefire line. It could become a sticking point in negotiations
25:48
as Moscow demands that Ukraine significantly reduce its military. Ukrainian
25:53
President Volodime Zelenski said Monday that he believes we have
25:58
made significant progress on the issue of European troops in Ukraine,
26:02
which he described as a coalition of the willing. We
26:06
want security guarantees not on paper, but on the ground,
26:10
at sea, in the air, he said. Asked whether Russia
26:14
would be ready for a European deployment in Ukraine, Kremlin
26:18
spokesman Dmitri Paskov said it was a very difficult question
26:22
on which there have been no substantive discussions so far.
26:27
It's difficult to speak about that as it will be
26:29
NATO member states and thus NATO forces deployed on Ukraine's territory,
26:34
he said. Keith Kellogg, Trump's Special envoy to Ukraine and Russia,
26:39
visited NIATO headquarters on Monday and will tour some capitals
26:43
this week, when European officials expect to talk about a
26:47
division of labor with United States in Ukraine. A Western
26:51
diplomat described the talks with the Americans so far as
26:55
a chicken and egg game, with each side waiting for
26:58
the other to show their cards before declaring what resources
27:01
they could commit. Others believe the plan would give Europeans
27:05
a key to shape the negotiations and lock Trump in
27:09
because he would be loath to appear weak if the
27:12
force is attacked and his deal unravels. What would happen
27:16
if they get attacked and Trump does nothing, It would
27:19
look so bad for him, a Western official said. European
27:23
officials say they have received mixed messages from members of
27:26
the Trump team as they try to gauge who does
27:29
what and how much sway each could have with the president.
27:33
There are different views in the Trump camp, and at
27:36
the end of the day, he's the one who decides.
27:38
A second European diplomat said it could all change with
27:42
a social media post. Sering Woganov and Kiev, Natalia Abakumova
27:47
in Riga, Latvia, and Kate Brady in Berlin contributed to
27:51
this report. Our next item is entitled CIA to sharpen
27:56
focus on cartel's risk of backlash from mecha, intelligence sharing
28:02
and covert action may expand by Warren P. Strobel and
28:07
Isaac Stanley Becker. The Central Intelligence Agency is poised to
28:11
take a larger, more aggressive role under President Donald Trump
28:15
in the battle against Mexican based drug cartels, devising and
28:19
evaluating plans to share more intelligence with regional governments, train
28:23
local counter narcotics units, and possibly conduct other covert actions.
28:28
According to people familiar with the matter, the expanded focus
28:32
on cartels, which smunkle fentanyl and other narcotics into the
28:36
United States represents a new and potentially risky priority for
28:41
the spy agency, which in recent years has made espionage
28:44
against China, counter terrorism operations in the Middle East, in Africa,
28:49
and support Ukraine. After Russia's twenty twenty two invasion, its
28:53
main concerns. CIA Director John Ratcliffe intends to shift agency
28:59
resources to its counternarcotics mission and apply insights from its
29:03
two decades of tracking, infiltrating, and disrupting terrorist networks to
29:08
fighting the cartels set. A person familiar with his plans,
29:11
who like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because
29:15
of the subject sensitivity and because he approach isn't finalized yet.
29:21
Lessons learned in the counter terrorism realm are applicable to
29:24
the Counternarcotics Mission and the Counter Cartel Mission, this person said,
29:29
the full weight of those has not been brought to
29:31
bear on this problem. A CIA spokesperson said in a
29:36
statement that countering drug cartels in Mexico and regionally is
29:41
a priority for CIA as a part of the Trump
29:44
administration's broader efforts to end the grave threat from darko trafficking.
29:49
Director Ratcliffe is determined to put CIA's unique expertise to
29:53
work against this multifaceted challenge. The emphasis will be on
29:58
increased US support to anti drug forces within Mexico and
30:02
elsewhere in the hemisphere, people familiar with the emerging plans said.
30:07
Less clear is whether armed US personnel, either from the military,
30:10
Special Operations Forces or the CIA, could be tasked with
30:14
taking direct action against cartel leaders on Mexican soil. Something
30:19
former intelligence and military officials warned would spark a ferocious
30:23
backlash and harm US Mexican relations, including counternarcotics cooperation. I
30:31
don't think people fully understand what that could mean, said
30:34
a former U s intelligence official who served in the region.
30:38
It's one thing to do that in a lawless environment
30:40
like Yemen or Somalia or Afghanistan. The Pentagon has no
30:45
such plans at the moment. A US military official said.
30:49
The spy agency's expanded role is one part of what
30:52
Trump has promised will be a broad offensive against the
30:55
cartels and illegal immigration. He has moved US troops to
31:00
the southern border and threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
31:04
The US military has also significantly increased the number of
31:08
airborne electronic surveillance slides aimed at the cartels along the
31:12
US Mexico border. Former US intelligence, military, and diplomatic officials
31:19
said Trump's more muscular approach is likely to alienate Mexico,
31:23
which is bruised by a long history of US intervention.
31:27
Additional intelligence sharing and training will help, they said, but
31:31
are unlikely to produce the rapid, visible results that Trump wants.
31:37
You can't go in with guns blazing, said Daniel Gerstein,
31:40
a retired U. S Army colonel who served in Columbia
31:44
and led an extensive study of more than two decades
31:47
of cater and narcotics work there for the RAND Think Tank,
31:50
where he is a senior policy researcher. I don't see
31:54
this as the kind of approach that's going to be
31:56
very successful. Mexican President clawed A. Shinbaum, facing Trump's tariff threat,
32:03
said she would move ten thousand troops to the border,
32:06
but she has insisted that Mexico will deal with Washington
32:11
as an equal, not as subordinate. Trump has falsely claimed
32:16
that three hundred thousand Americans die annually from drugs entering
32:20
the United States through Mexico. The true number is about
32:24
ninety thousand, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
32:28
and overdose deaths started declining in twenty twenty three. Focusing
32:33
on Latin America provides Ratcliffe an avenue to demonstrate that
32:36
the CIA, which Trump has long distrusted, is attending to
32:41
the president's priorities of crime, drugs, and migration. The former
32:45
intelligence officials said it remains unclear what other programs in
32:50
the CIA's classified budget may be cut to fund more
32:53
work on narcotics, and two former US officials said the
32:58
trade off could mean pulling back on other priorities, such
33:01
as China. Ratcliffe, though has said repeatedly that gathering intelligence
33:07
on China is his number one priority, and amid Trump's
33:11
wide ranging reshaping of the federal government, the CIA chief
33:15
has signaled he plans to trim the agency's workforce, offering
33:19
employees there a deferred resignation package. It's unclear how many
33:25
CIA personnel would take the buyout. The CIA has large
33:30
stations in Mexico and Columbia, but for its new effort
33:34
would need to expand its presence in other capitals and
33:37
increase staffing at its Langley, Virginia headquarters outside Washington, the
33:41
former intelligence officials said, adding where are these bodies coming from? Trump?
33:48
In a January twenty executive order tasked US by agencies
33:52
under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with
33:55
helping Secretary of State Marco Rubio determine which Mexican cartels
34:00
and which groups in Al Salvadore and Venezuela should be
34:04
designated as foreign terrorist organizations. While Trump set a fourteen
34:08
day deadline for receiving the recommendations, no action has been announced.
34:13
The White House referred questions to the State Department, which
34:17
did not respond to a request for comment. Trump toyed
34:21
with the same idea during his first term after the
34:24
killing in twenty nineteen of nine U S citizens from
34:27
a Mormon community in Mexico, but he never acted on it.
34:31
The threat of a terrorist designation served as a bargaining
34:34
chip that helped American law enforcement leaders extract concessions from
34:39
the Mexican government. Set a former US official who warned
34:43
that should Trump act on his threat now, it would
34:46
be perceived as opening the door for a unilateral U
34:49
S action in Mexico, including military action. Robert S Lett,
34:55
former General Counsel for the Office of the Director of
34:58
National Intelligence, set a four neign terrorist designation could allow
35:02
US authorities to engage in the kind of surveillance or
35:05
nearly aimed at foreign powers and their agents, but a
35:09
criminal wire tap can be conducted under existing authorities and
35:13
does not require such a designation, he said. Litz said
35:17
existing US law also permits covert action against cartels as
35:21
a counter narcotics matter, penning a presidential finding that such
35:25
an action is important to US national security, but a
35:29
foreign terrorist designation might enable covert action against cartels under
35:34
any existing findings, he said. The CIA has a long
35:39
secretive role in the fight against narcotics trafficking in Mexico.
35:44
For years, it has worked closely and quietly with a
35:47
Mexican army to go after drug lords. While Mexico's cooperation
35:52
with the US Drug Enforcement Administration has fractured in recent years,
35:56
particularly since the twenty twenty arrest in California a former
36:00
Mexican defense minister, Salvador Sinfuegos on drug charges, the Mexican
36:05
government has continued working with the CIA, According to a
36:09
former US and Mexico officials, even before Trump took office,
36:14
US intelligence agencies began devoting greater attention to the fetnyl trade,
36:19
as US deaths from the synthetic opioid spite rackless predecessor.
36:25
S CIA director William J. Burns told Congress in twenty
36:29
twenty three that the United States had shared intelligence with
36:32
Mexican authorities that led to some very successful action against
36:37
the Sinaloa cartel. Crucial information about the flow of fetnyl
36:42
precursor chemicals, cartel's financial networks and drug production sites. Burns
36:47
said was gleaned from an electronic surveillance program known as
36:51
Section seven oh two of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
36:56
Last year, lawmakers endorsed an amendment to legislation, reauthoriz FISA
37:01
that added international narcotics trafficking to the definition of foreign
37:05
intelligence information, allowing targeted surveillance of non US citizens abroad.
37:11
Representative Dan Crenshaw, Republican from Texas, who sponsored the amendment,
37:16
said it would allow the US government to target the
37:19
affiliates of cartels, such as bankers, accountants, and others who
37:23
help operate their business. Trump and some of his allies,
37:27
including Director of National Intelligence Tulsea Gabbert, have in the
37:31
past called for repealing Section seven oh two over its
37:35
impacts on Americans privacy. Gabbard, during her confirmation hearing, said
37:41
her views had changed. Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat from Texas,
37:48
a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said intelligence, including
37:52
intelligence partnerships with foreign allies, is important in shutting down
37:56
drug cartels. To date, the Trump administration actions have been
38:01
counterproductive to those goals. He said, this administration has not
38:06
put forward a credible plan to counter cartel violence or
38:10
protect American citizens from transnational crime. Instead, Trump's strategy has
38:16
mostly consisted of bombastic threats to invade Mexico, impose punching
38:21
tariffs on U S Mexico, tray, or designate cartels as
38:25
foreign terrorist organizations. Castro said Trump has advocated a more
38:31
muscular approach to drug trafficking than its predecessors, and at
38:34
one point in his first term proposed launching missiles of
38:38
Mexican drug labs. According to his former Defense secretary Mark t. Esper,
38:43
during the twenty twenty four campaign, he declared that it
38:46
will be the policy of the United States to take
38:49
down the cartels, just as we took down ISIS and
38:52
the ISIS Caliphate, referring to the Islamic State militant group.
38:57
Former US officials said there are important differences between the
39:01
war on terrorism and Trump's war on cartels. For instance,
39:07
the United States trained and equipped vetted local forces in Afghanistan,
39:11
but there, unlike in Mexico, the US military and its
39:15
proxies controlled swaths of territory. Even so, creating trusted local
39:21
security units took years and significant funding. I don't think
39:27
Trump is searching for things that can be done slowly.
39:29
And methodically, the former intelligence officials, said. William Brownfield, a
39:35
former US ambassador to Columbia and head of the State
39:38
Department's International Narcotics Bureau, said the United States previously trained
39:43
and screened Mexican counter narcotics units under a two thousand
39:47
and seven through twenty twenty one security cooperation agreement called
39:51
the Merida Initiative. Those units were responsible for capturing Joaquin
39:57
Chapa Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa car Tell. He
40:00
said that worked for a while. Is it going to
40:04
work now with Shinbau, I don't know, said Brownfield, now
40:08
at the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank. Mexico it's
40:13
a hard nut to crack, in part because of the
40:16
country's visceral reaction based on history to any US military
40:21
or law enforcement presence on its soil. Brownfield said, there
40:25
is absolutely no way you can do this without provoking
40:29
residual anger that dates to the Mexican American War. The
40:34
increased focus on intelligence collection and sharing is also reflected
40:39
in Trump's picks for diplomatic posts. His nominee for ambassador
40:43
in Mexico, Ron Johnson, spent more than two decades at
40:47
the CIA before he served as ambassador to El Salvador
40:51
in Trump's first term. Gerstein, the rand researcher, said intelligence
40:56
is a critical part of Canternarcotic's work. The United States
41:00
shared copious intelligence with Colombian authorities on the locations of
41:04
coco fields and rebel groups, he said. But Kirstine said
41:09
drug interdiction and eradication must be paired with soft power
41:13
approaches like economic development and institution building. To be successful,
41:19
you've got to do all four of those simultaneously, he said.
41:24
Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen de Young contributed to this report.
41:29
Our next item is entitled as Troops arrive Few migrants
41:34
crossing border Beaurellus, r ARNANDUS from Del Rio, Texas. There
41:40
are signs all over town that the troops have arrived.
41:43
The two hotels closest to the border patrol headquarters are
41:47
sold out. A local gym and a barbershop are advertising
41:50
discounts for men and women in uniform, and every Thursday,
41:55
diners can use their military ideas to save on food
41:58
and drinks and mochahethes Maxicon Restaurant. Several hundred active duty
42:03
soldiers arrived in the Texas city of Del Rio in
42:06
late January, after President Donald Trump declared an invasion and
42:10
ordered troops to deploy to the southern border. The US
42:14
Defense Department says three thousand, six hundred servicemen and service women,
42:19
mostly from the U. S. Army and Marines, have been
42:21
sent to help patrol the nation's land border with Mexico,
42:25
but their arrival comes at one of the quietest moments
42:28
of the border in the past decade. Agents with a
42:31
border patrol sector that includes Del Rio and the neighboring
42:35
city of the Eagle Pass have been apprehending fewer than
42:38
fifty people a day since late January. That's a stark
42:42
decline from twenty twenty three, when as many as five
42:45
thousand migrants surrendered to agents daily after crossing three oh
42:49
grand Locals say they welcomed the tax revenue and extra
42:53
boots on the ground, but it's not clear to them
42:56
why they are needed now. We're glad they're here enjoying
43:00
our city, said Alvaro Arriola, the mayor of Del Rio,
43:04
even if we haven't gotten any information about their actual
43:07
mission across the two thousand, one hundred miles of land
43:12
that divides the United States and Mexico, the number of
43:15
illegal migrant crossings has been plummeting. The decline began last year,
43:20
when Mexico stepped up inforcement by stopping migrants from reaching
43:24
the border. Then the Biden administration barred migrants who crossed
43:28
illegally from claiming asylum and directed people to apply for
43:32
entry through an app instead. Border apprehensions had dropped to
43:37
near twenty nineteen levels. By the time Trump was sworn in,
43:41
He swiftly canceled cbp IE app appointments for thousands of migrants,
43:45
declared an emergency, and effectively sealed the border. US Customs
43:51
and Border Patrol Protection recorded more than two million encounters
43:55
of migrants attempting to cross a border in twenty twenty
43:58
two and twenty twenty three. If the current trand holds
44:02
for this year twenty twenty five, border apprehensions could drop
44:05
to fewer than three hundred thousand, a level unseen since
44:09
twenty seventeen. People are recalculating and rethinking their plans, said
44:15
Adam Isaacson, a border security analyst with the Washington Office
44:19
on Latin America. If any one is crossing and turning
44:22
themselves in, they are severely misinformed or beyond desperate. Before
44:29
Trump took office, there were two thousand, two hundred active
44:32
duty soldiers deployed at the border since twenty eighteen. Now,
44:36
that number has climbed to five thousand and is expected
44:39
to grow, said General Gregory Guillot, commander of u S.
44:43
Northern Command, during a State Armed Services Committee hearing this week.
44:48
Isaacson said that with the current number of US and
44:50
Mexican troops at the border, there is about one soldier
44:54
or officer for every migrant trying to cross Each month.
44:58
Mexico deployed a total of tenh one thousand troops as
45:01
part of a truce after the Trump administration threatened the
45:04
nation with tariffs. Those numbers have some locals wondering what
45:09
will the troops be doing. Trump Senior advisor Stephen Miller
45:13
said this week at the Oval Office that border patrol
45:16
agents and troops are busy seizing drugs and weapons, arresting
45:21
violent criminals and erecting barriers, and carrying out investigations to
45:25
stop human trafficking. Miller did not give any specific numbers.
45:30
U S, Customs and Border Protection declined to elaborate on
45:33
what the troops will be doing. Beyond generalities. US Northern Command,
45:38
which is overseeing the border deployment, said the active duty
45:42
soldiers are reinforcing border barriers and helping with intelligence on
45:46
cartel activity, even as the U. S Defense Department bolsters
45:51
its Southern Border Force. Residents here say the border doesn't
45:55
look that different from what they'd grown accustomed to. With
45:57
Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Loan Star, the state spent more
46:02
than eleven billion dollars money. Abbot is asking Congress to
46:05
reimburse to send troops string razor wire and arrest migrants
46:10
for trespassing. There is no clear evidence that had any
46:14
material impact on crossings other than sending migrants elsewhere. Local
46:20
leaders in Del Rio see as many as four hundred
46:22
soldiers have arrived in the city since late January, reporting
46:26
to Laughlin Air Force Base, where fighter pilots go to train.
46:30
They are then dispatched to different parts of the border.
46:34
CDP officials said they are surging or reducing troop counts
46:37
according to where they are needed. Ronald Chantler, a Delrio businessman,
46:43
owns a property on the banks of the Rio Grande
46:45
and a factory in Mexico that makes products including top bags.
46:50
The days of calling the sheriff to assist with migrants
46:53
would collapse in his front yard after crossing the Rio
46:55
Grande seemed to be over. He said he's not worried
47:00
about a new uptick in crossings like what this community
47:03
saw in twenty twenty one, when about fourteen thousand migrants
47:06
a mass beneath the International Bridge in Del Rio. He
47:10
doesn't think the extra soldiers are needed. We have as
47:14
many people with badges as we do citizens without. He said.
47:18
There's no activity going on in this town. It's completely stopped.
47:23
Border patrol agents in Del Rio and Eagle Pass are
47:26
frequently spotted on area roadways, perched on limestone bluffs, and
47:30
parked in green striped vehicles tucked into thorny brush. Miller
47:35
said agents have been pushed to the front line because
47:38
they are no longer doing humanitarian processing under Biden. In
47:43
neighboring Kinney County, where the local share became a fixture
47:46
on Fox News during the Biden administration, more than forty
47:50
days passed without a single smuggling arrest from December to January.
47:54
The district attorney is advancing prosecution on thousands of older
47:58
smuggling cases, but many cases have slowed, Cruisers are getting
48:02
arrest and deputies aren't taking overtime or doing lots of paperwork.
48:07
We're back to getting cats out of trees and helping
48:10
little old ladies with their groceries. Sheer. Brad Coe said,
48:13
it's so quiet it's spooky. It feels like the calm
48:17
before the storm. Nearly three hundred thousand foreigners are estimated
48:21
to be in Mexico waiting to see how US border
48:24
policy will shift in the coming months. If past is
48:28
prolog the current quiet may only be temporary. After Trump's
48:33
first inauguration in twenty seventeen, migration halted, but picked back
48:38
up toward the end of the year as people started coming.
48:42
The Trump administration began to implement zero tolerance strategies, and
48:46
family separations began Uptics and crossings have long been seasonal
48:51
and tied to the weather, but John Gramlich, an associate
48:54
director of the Pew Research Center, said those trends no
48:58
longer apply today. Surges or dips in the number of
49:02
people trying to enter the United States are more often
49:05
tied to world events and policy changes. It's all much
49:09
less predictable, he said. The new normal for cities such
49:14
as Del Rio and neighboring Eagle Paths, which saw dramatic
49:17
influx that led to the Texas takeover of its riverfront
49:21
park last year, relies on policies that may be struck
49:24
down by a federal judge. Meanwhile, border analysts say it
49:29
could become riskier and more expensive for migrants to cross
49:33
as United States and Mexico step up surveillance and cartels
49:37
charge more. For now, Texas migrant shelters are close to empty.
49:42
Border nonprofits that help shelter thousands of migrants a week
49:46
are shifting more of their donations and humanitarian work to
49:49
facilities and partners in Mexico. Many started closing locations last
49:54
year as demand dropped. Democrats in this part of the
49:57
border see that Trump exaggerated claims of an invasion and
50:01
that the new soldiers are part of an ongoing political
50:04
theater by Republicans to drum up their base. There's no
50:08
more emergency because the election is over, said Maverick County
50:12
Commissioner Heraldo Jerry Morales, a Democrat. We won't see politicians
50:17
come back here to claring a crisis until the next election.
50:21
When Trump announced the soldiers were coming, the l Vere
50:23
County Judge Lewis Owens said locals worried that residents would
50:27
be stopped and questioned. Undocumented people are integrated into every
50:32
border community, including del Rio. Active duty military, by law,
50:37
cannot stop drivers or ask about their immigration status. With
50:42
little to do on the border itself, border patrol agents
50:45
could instead be redirected to help enforce immigration laws in
50:49
other parts of the country. Experts said two of the
50:52
top officials at US Immigrations and Custom Enforcement were recently
50:57
removed from their jobs amid frustration among Trump of Fisher
51:00
that officers aren't ramping up arrests and deportations fast enough.
51:05
It may be too early to know, but Owens is
51:08
hopeful that now that the election is over and crossings
51:11
continue to plunge, that this border city can get back
51:14
to worrying about issues like water and sewage. What happened
51:19
back then is always in the back of your mind,
51:21
the counting leader said, but I think we will have
51:24
more warning this time next and I am entitled the
51:28
twenty twenty six Games will bring the world together sort of.
51:33
The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will shatter the model with
51:37
events held in seven far flung villages by Less Carpenter
51:41
and Artur Golocha from Milan. The twenty twenty six Milan
51:46
Cortina Winter Olympics, which will be entering their second week
51:49
one year from now, will be the most spread out
51:52
games ever, stretching hundreds of miles across the Italian Alps
51:56
from Milan to the borders of Switzerland and Austria. The
52:00
trip between the men's and women's downhill skiing venues alone
52:03
could take up to twelve hours. Past Winter Olympics were
52:07
confined to one or two places, with indoor sports such
52:10
as figure skating and hockey based in a city and
52:13
the outdoor competitions on mountains a reasonable drive away, making
52:18
it possible to attend events at both sides in a
52:20
single day. The twenty twenty six Games will dismantle that concept,
52:25
with venues spread across seven mountain villages, reached only by
52:29
narrow winding roads and connected by a mix of trains
52:33
and shuttle buses that will make the trips take hours.
52:37
The sprawling plan is an attempt by organizers to control
52:41
costs by limiting the building of new facilities and to
52:44
take advantage of Italy's best ski slopes and courses, but
52:48
it also creates logistical challenges never confronted at a Winter Olympics,
52:53
among them two Olympic cauldron lighting ceremonies in cities one
52:57
hundred twenty five miles apart, multiple improvised athletes villages instead
53:03
of one for the city and one for the mountain,
53:06
men's and women's alpine skiing events on separate slopes for
53:09
the first time in separate regions of the country. This
53:14
means U s skiing star Michaela Schiffren, after participating in
53:18
her events, won't be able to watch her fiancee, Norwegian
53:21
racer Alexander al Multkilde, compete in his and Czech snowboarder
53:26
and ski racer as to Ledeca will have to choose
53:29
between going for her third consecutive gold medal and snowboard
53:33
parallel Giant slalom or trying to win a second gold
53:36
in alpine skiing Super G because the women's downhill, which
53:40
he also races, and key SUPERG training runs will be
53:43
at almost the same time as the snowboarding and on
53:47
separate mountains. The most outlandish possibility involves Cortina's sliding track
53:53
not being ready, which would lead to bob sled, skeleton
53:56
and luge competitions being moved to a backup site in
54:00
Lake Placid, New York. Organizers say they don't think that
54:04
will happen, but no one is certain. None of this
54:07
will matter much to the millions watching on television. All
54:11
they will see are the ski racers in Bormeo hurtling
54:14
down the mountain to a century's old village yards from
54:17
the finish line, or ski jumpers soaring above the snow
54:20
capped treetops and Pradazzo. They won't know the challenges athletes
54:25
will face to get to those mountains, or that some
54:28
of the athletes villages might not feel like Olympic athletes villages,
54:32
or that many Olympians will be weighing the merits of
54:35
traveling to Verona for the closing ceremonies. And in nearly
54:38
two thousand year old arena, we have valleys that are
54:42
very close to each other if you look at a map,
54:44
but it takes longer to get to them by road.
54:47
Milan Courtina, Olympic CEO Andrea varnier Is said Olympic planners,
54:53
wary of negative publicity, tend to hide their game's flaws,
54:58
but Milanquartina organizers are leaning into the sprawl, often making
55:02
it the first thing they talk about when meeting with
55:05
sports federations, Olympic executives and the media. They heave deep size,
55:11
smile warily, and open presentations with what they sometimes call
55:15
the bad news. Their games will be very, very different,
55:19
they say. Best to know from the start that figure skating, hockey,
55:24
and speed skating will be held in Milan, women's alpine
55:28
sliding sports and curling in Cortina, Men's alpine in Bormeo,
55:33
snowboarding and free skiing in Livigno, cross country skiing in Terreeso,
55:39
biathlon in Antosilva, and ski jumping in Pradazzo. Best to
55:44
understand too, that most are not easy to reach from
55:48
the other. As Varnier sat in a Milan hotel coffee
55:52
shop not far from Sansuro Stadium, where the main opening
55:55
ceremonies will take place, he called the staff pioneers in
55:59
the concept of a spread out Olympics. The sprawling games
56:03
were not his idea. He joined Milan Courtina in December
56:06
twenty twenty two after planning fell disastrously behind during the
56:11
coronavirus pandemic. But he has experience in the Olympic world,
56:15
having run the opening ceremonies for the Turn Games in
56:18
two thousand and six and advising the International Olympic Committee
56:22
at other times. He understands that the Winter Games had
56:26
become too big and costly to host in traditional ways.
56:30
He can see the advantages of a sprawling Olympics. It
56:34
was a very rational decision, he said, adding that the
56:37
concept will allow for events at some of the most
56:40
revered winter sports venues in Europe. Where is the best
56:44
male alpine skiing, he said, spreading his arms wide, It's Bormeo.
56:49
Where's the best female alpine skiing? It's Courtina, because the
56:53
women in Bormeo would have a difficult time and for
56:56
men in Courtina it would be too easy. Where is
56:59
the best by Oslon Arena in Italy? And perhaps the
57:02
world is Entraselva. So the decision to be spread out
57:06
and then leave figure skating, hockey and speed skating in
57:09
Milano was a decision that was made to make these
57:12
games more sustainable. Every town has special things. Livigno is
57:18
a kind of tiny alpine village you might find on
57:21
a postcard, with lanes of shops, restaurants, and ski villas
57:25
stretched at the bottom of a valley deep in the
57:28
northern Italian Mountains. From the peak above, it looks like
57:32
a strand of Christmas lights stretched across the snow. During
57:36
the Olympics, Livigno will be one of the busiest sides
57:39
of the Games, hosting the snowboarding, halfpipe, moguls, and freestyle
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skiing events. More than ten thousand spectators are expected each
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day for many of the competitions. US Olympic officials, realizing
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many of the American medals will be won in Livigno,
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are planning a significant presence there. Getting to Levigno, though,
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is tricky during the Olympics. This will mean taking a
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nearly two hour train from Milan to the small town
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of Toronto, where shuttle buses will navigate a string of
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roads around the mountains for another hour to Bormeo. Due
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to time constraints, we will need to end this autumn
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at this time. This concludes the reading of the Washington
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Post for to Day Tuesday, February eighteenth, twenty twenty five.
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Your reader for to day has been Sendy Fraser. If
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you have any questions, comments or suggestions concerning this program,
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Please feel free to call us at eight five nine
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four two two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening,
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and now stay tuned for continued programming on Radio I