13 former U.S. spy leaders rebuke Trump
Letter cites revoked security clearance
WASHINGTON — In a remarkable rebuke to President Donald Trump, 13 former U.S. intelligence chiefs have signed a harshly worded letter in support of former CIA Director John Brennan after Mr. Trump abruptly revoked his security clearance.
“We feel compelled to respond in the wake of the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House,” reads the letter from the officials, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents.
They called Mr. Trump’s action “inappropriate” and “deeply regrettable.”
Signing the letter Thursday was a virtual who’s who of American spy chiefs dating back to the late 1980s, a striking show of solidarity from the top ranks of the national security establishment.
They included former directors of central intelligence William Webster, George Tenet and Porter Goss; former CIA directors Michael Hayden, Leon Panetta and David Petraeus; former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; and former deputy CIA directors John McLaughlin, Stephen Kappes, Avril Haines, David Cohen and Michael Morell.
Robert Gates, the former CIA director and secretary of defense, signed on to the letter Friday morning. Having served Republican and Democratic presidents, Mr. Gates is known for staying out of the political arena. His addition to the bipartisan list only served to underscore the alarm in national security circles following Mr. Trump’s punitive swipe at Mr. Brennan, seen by many as little more than an attempt to silence his enemies.
Leaving the White House for a trip to New York, Mr. Trump told
reporters Friday he’s gotten a “tremendous response” since revoking Mr. Brennan’s clearance. He also blasted the special counsel investigation into Russian collusion and obstruction of justice as “a rigged witch hunt,” claiming that many intelligence officials involved in it should be under investigation.
“They should be looking at the other side,” Mr. Trump said. He singled out Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, the only current government employee whose security clearance the White House claimed Wednesday to be reviewing. Mr. Ohr was an early Justice Department contact of Christopher Steele, the private investigator whose dossier on the Trump campaign’s Russia connections was a cornerstone of the government’s initial investigation. Mr. Ohr’s wife also once worked for the firm that compiled the dossier.
“Bruce Ohr is a disgrace,” Mr. Trump said, hinting that he would strip more security clearances soon. “I suspect I’ll be taking it away very quickly.”
The letter from the 13 former intelligence officials followed an angry open letter to Mr. Trump from retired Adm. William McRaven, who headed U.S. Joint Special Operations Command and oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, he excoriated Mr. Trump’s “McCarthy-era tactics” and said he would “consider it an honor” for Mr. Trump to revoke his security clearance in solidarity with Mr. Brennan.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Wednesday that Mr. Trump had stripped Mr. Brennan of his security clearance and therefore his access to classified information.
Mr. Trump did so, she said, because of questions about Mr. Brennan’s “objectivity and credibility” and his “erratic conduct and behavior.”
In his statement, Mr. Trump said he also was considering revoking security clearances for Mr. Clapper and Mr. Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former FBI Director James B. Comey, and former FBI or Justice Department officials Sally Yates, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, as well as Mr. Ohr. Several have said they no longer have clearances.
Mr. Brennan has been a critic of Mr. Trump, and the president’s action was widely seen as an effort by the White House to punish a political enemy. Normally, senior intelligence officials keep their clearances in case their expertise is needed, and some use it to obtain lucrative jobs in the private sector.
It’s not clear whether Mr. Brennan, who headed the CIA during President Barack Obama’s second term, has used his since he left the agency in 2017. He works as a paid security analyst for NBC News.
The 12 former intelligence chiefs praised Mr. Brennan as “enormously talented, capable and patriotic” and dismissed allegations of any wrongdoing as “baseless.”
“The president’s action,” they wrote, “has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances — and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech.”
“You don’t have to agree with what John Brennan says (and … not all of us do) to agree with his right to say it, subject to his obligation to protect classified information,” they wrote.
Mr. Brennan excoriated Mr. Trump as “treasonous” after the president’s private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. This week, he called Mr. Trump “dangerous to our nation” and “the most divisive president we have ever had,” one who has “badly sullied the reputation of the office of the presidency.”
Many senior Republicans in Congress said Mr. Brennan deserved to have his clearance revoked due to his criticism of the president.