Fundamentally reforming the intelligence community is an urgent task for the second Trump administration. If the White House fails to reshape U.S. intelligence, any future Republican president will confront even worse partisan harassment than President Donald Trump faced from the “deep state” during his first term.

Such root-and-branch reforms cannot originate with the executive branch. Besides, that’s a dead letter since Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fallen out of favor with the White House over her strange statements about Iran’s nuclear program. Perhaps that’s just as well, since the inexperienced Gabbard had little credibility with the intelligence community anyway.