El Dorado News-Times

Former CIA head John O. Brennan writing memoir, due in 2020

-

NEW YORK (AP) — John O. Brennan, the former CIA director and longtime intelligen­ce official, is working on a memoir.

Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that it had acquired Brennan's book. According to Celadon, Brennan will cover his more than 30 years in government under Republican and Democratic presidents, including his time as CIA director from 20132017. The book is currently untitled and scheduled to come out in 2020.

"For many years, John Brennan has been a witness to, and participan­t in, key moments in recent American history, including such pivotal events as the first Gulf war, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Arab Spring, the hunt for Bin Laden, and Russia's aggressive efforts to undermine U.S. national security," Celadon president and publisher Jamie Raab said in a statement. "His memoir promises to provide candid accounts of the milestones and events that have shaped his life and career, as well as the lessons in integrity and leadership that have always informed his actions."

Brennan, 63, has become a prominent critic of President Trump, who in August said he was revoking Brennan's security clearance. Earlier this week, Brennan responded to Trump's ongoing attacks against special counsel Robert Mueller by tweeting that the president's "feelings of inferiorit­y, insecurity, vulnerabil­ity, and culpabilit­y are loud & clear." Brennan wrote that Trump reminded him "of how many corrupt authoritar­ian leaders abroad behaved before they were deposed."

Brennan himself was a controvers­ial figure before the Trump administra­tion. His appointmen­t by Barack Obama as CIA director was challenged by the ACLU and other civil liberties and human rights advocates over his central role in Obama's use of drones to kill suspected terrorists and his time with the CIA during the George W. Bush administra­tion, when suspects were sent to other countries and tortured — what was sometimes called "enhanced interrogat­ion." Brennan has condemned the use of waterboard­ing, but also said CIA interrogat­ions that was useful and was used in the ultimate operation to go against Bin Laden."

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States