An amazing lede from The Intercept: “The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials and others familiar with the proposals. The sources say the plans have been pitched to the White House as a means of countering ‘deep state’ enemies in the intelligence community seeking to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency.” This is both completely crazy and completely in line with the near-constant attacks on the FBI and Justice Dept coming from the Oval Office.

+ According to the White House (that has had a shifting response the the story), “This idea is going nowhere.”