Exclusive Access

Yossi Alpher is a former Israeli intelligence professional whose highly-classified intelligence-gathering and analyses were delivered to the Israeli leadership. How does he explain ex-President Trump’s obsessive hoarding of so many sensitive government secrets?

Exclusive access to secrets empowers a head of state. Trump left office insisting he still was the legitimate head of state in the United States. Apparently, in his warped psyche, those boxes of documents–“my boxes”–ratified and confirmed his self-image as president. Note that after leaving office, Trump reportedly moved the boxes around and examined their contents with the help of an aide, in his own ‘presidential’ manner.

Add to this that he came to the presidency with no background in reading and absorbing classified intelligence assessments. Apparently, he is also not endowed intellectually to process sensitive strategic intelligence. Conceivably, Trump does not really comprehend the significance for the nation of what he has hoarded.

Sadly, at least one aspect of this description, lack of intelligence background, fits most recent American presidents and, indeed, many world leaders. For what it is worth, Israeli leaders usually enjoy an advantage here. Sadly, that does not necessarily improve their strategic decision-making.

This is my own personal theory about Trump and the documents he hoarded. The boxes show better than anything else just how unfit for office this man is.