The 'Cut Cut Cut Act of 2017'?

Vice President Mike Pence made a relatively quiet visit to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday. According to the White House schedule, the visit consisted a series of briefings with CIA officials, but Pence also delivered prepared remarks to agents and employees there.

“I’m also here to pay a debt of gratitude, and to say those two words that the CIA simply doesn’t hear enough: Thank you,” Pence said. “Thank you for the pivotal role each and every one of you plays in keeping our nation safe. You, and the thousands of men and women you direct and work with on a daily basis, are essential to America’s security. You have stood up and stepped forward to serve your country—not as soldiers, but in the shadows—and for that, you have the appreciation of your entire nation.”

The speech can be seen as an olive branch from the White House—or, at the very least, from Pence himself—to the intelligence community, which has had a rocky relationship with President Donald Trump. The president made an early appearance at the CIA during his administration in an attempt to make nice after having publicly criticized the intelligence community during and after the election. Trump has continued to publicly cast doubt on the various intelligence agencies, particularly as most agencies have confirmed some level of meddling by Russia in last year’s presidential election.

But for the past two months, I’m told, Pence has been trying to smooth things over with a series of briefings like Wednesday’s at the CIA. He’s made similar visits to the National Counterterrorism Center (August 24), National Security Agency (September 6), the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (September 13), and the National Reconnaissance Office (September 29). And last week, Pence took a trip to Minot Air Force base in North Dakota to survey the nuclear arsenal there.

The vice president’s interest in intelligence and national security issues is a bit of an expansion of Pence’s role in the Trump administration, which has been publicly defined by his status as a liaison between the White House and Capitol Hill, as well as between Trump and the traditional conservatives of the Republican party.