A CNN panel on Tuesday examined how President Donald Trump and his administration have created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia throughout the federal workforce.
In particular, host Audie Cornish pointed to new reporting about how federal employees no longer communicate with one another candidly through their work computers — and instead rely on encrypted messaging apps.
"This shift is driven by fear," she said. "Fear of surveillance, fear of leaks, and fear of political retribution. As Washington insiders increasingly turn to encrypted platforms, you've got concerns about division and mistrust within the government. One employee believes the new culture of fear is, frankly, by design."
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Jamil Jaffer, the founder of the National Security Institute at the George Mason University Law School, agreed with Cornish's assessment that the Trump administration was cultivating a "culture of fear."
"Everyone's operating in a culture of fear," he said. "It's partly because within the Trump administration, they operate like Hunger Games. You know, everyone's out for everybody. But on top of that, now you've got the president hunting down leakers, which he should do, that's the right thing."
Beyond going after just leakers, however, Jaffer noted that "the president is not loyal to his own people," and then added that "this is a problem."
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