Trump ‘May Well Pose a Threat to National Security’ Says 33 Year CIA Veteran Who Worked Under Bush and Obama
Donald Trump is unknowingly being influenced by Russian President Vladimir Putin says a 33-year veteran of the CIA who served as its acting director from 2010-2013. Michael Morell (photo, below, highlighted in red) began working at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1980, and in a New York Times op-ed Friday endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, writes, “I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.”
“Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security,” Morell writes, adding that the Republican nominee “would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief,” and is “already damaging our national security.”
Here’s why:
“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was a career intelligence officer, trained to identify vulnerabilities in an individual and to exploit them. That is exactly what he did early in the primaries. Mr. Putin played upon Mr. Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr. Putin had calculated.”
“Mr. Putin is a great leader, Mr. Trump says, ignoring that he has killed and jailed journalists and political opponents, has invaded two of his neighbors and is driving his economy to ruin. Mr. Trump has also taken policy positions consistent with Russian, not American, interests — endorsing Russian espionage against the United States, supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea and giving a green light to a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States.”
“In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”
Noting that as a government official he has “always been silent about” his preference for president, Morell says, “I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.”
Morell goes on to tout Hillary Clinton’s national security credentials.
“I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.”
“I also saw the secretary’s commitment to our nation’s security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision of all — whether to put young American women and men in harm’s way.”
Trump, Morell adds, “has also undermined security with his call for barring Muslims from entering the country. This position, which so clearly contradicts the foundational values of our nation, plays into the hands of the jihadist narrative that our fight against terrorism is a war between religions.”
He concludes, “Our nation will be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president.”
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Photo: President Barack Obama talks with members of the national security team at the conclusion of one in a series of meetings discussing the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza via Flickr