Imagine a champion dance couple. The orchestra lights up. The couple bursts onto the floor. They float. They swing. They whirl – and stir your envy and admiration. They trip the light fantastic at levels you can only dream about.

Then you notice two small things. Her skirt is caught up in her pantyhose. And his fly is unzipped. Sort of ruins the performance for you, doesn’t it?

I have suffered a similar distraction. During the blizzard of news, speculation and commentary of the last few years. There has been all the stuff about Russia, Russia, Russia. And collusion, lost and destroyed emails. And Benghazi. And all that.

What distracted me was this small item: Our intelligence people have behaved like a bunch of doofuses. Move over Keystone Cops.

Many of us already held our intelligence services in low regard. After all, they dropped the ball on 9/11. They held reams of information on the villains. But they failed to connect the dots.

For instance, they kept tabs on the Saudi terrorists. They knew they enrolled in flight schools. They had clear warnings of a major undertaking against America. They knew of bin Laden and his network for years. Right. They failed us.

They also failed in the lead-up to the Iraq War. Either they flopped in determining that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Or they knew he was toothless, but failed to deter us from invading.

They also made a royal mess over the slaughter at Benghazi.

What has distracted me lately is their behavior the last few years. The behavior of our top intel guys. The crème de la crème. The leaders. The guys we depend upon to protect this nation. Its secrets. Its leaders. Its people. You and your family.

A few things are clear amidst the smoke and mirrors and spin.

Our top guys ignored the behavior of Madam Clinton and her staff. She treated this country’s secrets like recipes to be passed around the village. She destroyed evidence that was under subpoena. Our top intel guys turned the other way.

The same guys utterly abused our FISA court. When they chose to spy on the Trump campaign. They blatantly broke the law. They ended up illegally spying on many dozens of citizens.

The top guys in the CIA and FBI schemed, leaked and lied. They colluded to disrupt Trump’s campaign. They created traps for him as President-elect and as President. They deceived him. They lied to Congress.

They leaked to the press. Our leading intelligence guys! The FBI protects its own. We know that. Still, it had to report 14 of its top people for leaking. These were not lowly peons. Not the little guys who held grudges. For losing their parking spots or missing out on promotions. These were the big fish. The ones whose titles demand our respect.

The guy who ran the CIA. The one who ran our FBI. They lied. They leaked. They colluded. They conspired.

We know what their behavior says about them. It says — nay, it screams — that they are lowlifes. It matters not what their political biases were. Nor how much they hated Trump. What they did was disgusting.

But what does this say about our intelligence agencies? John Brennan was CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia before 9/11. Colleagues begged him to press the Saudis for more info on bin Laden. He ignored them. His judgement in this was dismal. Ultimately it was tragic for us.

Yet he was promoted. To head the CIA. Where he had his agents spy on members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Promoted! What kind of agency and government promotes a man like this?

On this inglorious foundation he goes on to collude against the election of our president.

What sort of FBI is it that promotes and produces the likes of the 14 leakers? And continues to employ most of them? What sort of FBI promotes a James Comey, liar and leaker?

Such appalling behavior cries out for major reforms. These agencies deserve the equivalent of purging, blood-letting, endoscopies and colonoscopies. They are embarrassments. They are incompetent to the point of being dangerous to the republic.

We deserve better. The question of the day is whether we will get better.

From Tom…as in Morgan.

Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.