August 17, 2018: C.I.A. Directors Who Served Every President from Ronald Reagan until Trump, Lodge Protest

 

8/17/18: The president revokes the security clearance of John Brennan, former head of the C.I.A. According to White House Press Secretary Pinocchio Sanders, all is right in the world. Brennan, she tells reporters, has been making “wild accusations” against the Trump administration. 

 

“An attempt to stifle free speech.” 

Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican, calls it the kind of move you see in a “banana republic.” But most GOP leaders are silent or mildly supportive. Sen. John Kennedy says Brennan was being a “butthead.” 

The president is clear about why he does it – and why he plans to revoke the security clearances of others. 

Brennan is a critic.

 

Sean Hannity and the usual sycophants support the move. Lou Dobbs, clearly in need of anger management therapy, shouts, 

John Brennan…has lost his security clearance. And the Swamp hates that. President Trump took away Brennan’s clearance because of Brennan’s “erratic conduct and behavior.” Brennan has been publically attacking Mr. Trump even while he was still director of the C.I.A. Viciously so. And Brennan has broken with tradition and civility: He is the first former intelligence agency head to absolutely politicize his public service, trying to monetize that service, to inject himself into Presidential politics, and to recruit the heads of other intelligence agencies to attack the President of the United States.

Trump’s attempt to punish critics may not bother Dobbs. It bothers quite a few former C.I.A. officials and leaders in U.S. intelligence. First, a dozen former top officials at the C.I.A. sign a letter criticizing the move. 

They warn: 

We feel compelled to respond in the wake of the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House…We know John to be an enormously talented, capable and patriotic individual who devoted his entire adult life to the service of this nation.

 

The president’s decision, 

…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, again, not all of us do) to agree with his right to say it, [emphasis added], subject to his obligation to protect classified information.

 

The signers include C.I.A. Directors who served Ronald Reagan and every other president since, save Trump. (You can read their letter here.)