National Security Agencies under Trump [Matteo Faini / WarOnTheRocks]
The first lessons are for Trump himself. In his dealings with his intelligence agencies, Nixon dug his own political grave. The more he ordered his intelligence agencies to commit improper activities, the more it gave them the power to blackmail the presidency.
I think the exerpt above is an interesting insight. There might be counterexamples where there were no serious consequences to the administration (Iran-Contra?) but a valuable line of thought nonetheless. One difference between now and Nixon’s time is that today, the parts responsible for things like the Iraq/Libya etc have no reputation left to lose, so in PR terms they will play a different role in the coming Trump administration. The retired generals on Trump’s cabinet may also have experience providing a connection (in which direction?) to the bureaucracies involved in all this, which perhaps part of their intended role.
Pete's Politics and Variety 