The fallout from allegations by Devin Nunes of potential surveillance abuses by the Obama White House has a top former intelligence official warning that such claims threaten to undermine the intelligence community’s credibility.
“American espionage rests a bit uneasily inside American culture because American espionage represents power and secrecy, which of course makes anyone American valued uncomfortable with the concept,” said former CIA director Michael Hayden. “But we’re okay, we get by, because we are viewed that we would never be asked nor would we allow ourselves to be used for political purposes. Therefore, even though it’s an uneasy relationship, we continue to function.”
The warning comes weeks after Nunes, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, alleged that the names of Trump transition members were unmasked and disseminated in intelligence reports. In the days that followed, President Trump said that former national security adviser Susan Rice may have committed a crime with her reported requests to unmask, or expose, the names of Trump associates.
“If you look at the whole … Susan Rice, unmasking, whatever, thing, which they won’t let go,” former CIA director Michael Hayden said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Institute on White House-intelligence community relations. “It’s not about intelligence; it’s about politics. … That has the potential for really serious long-term crippling of the American intelligence community.”
Hayden later told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Rice’s reported unmasking request appears “painfully routine.”
“Frankly the original report within which she wants an identity umasked doesn’t get there unless some professional at NSA thought originally that it had some valuable intelligence, even with the data masked,” he said.
Rice reportedly requested the identities of Trump transition officials in intelligence documents on multiple occasions. The names of U.S. persons are typically redacted in intelligence reports, but can be revealed under certain circumstances. Rice has since denied abusing intelligence for political purposes.
Reports of Rice’s involvement came on the heels of Nunes’s controversial claims in late March that he had seen intelligence documents which appeared to improperly include details about Trump transition members. Some individuals had their names unmasked, he said.
Former deputy director for intelligence at the CIA John McLaughlin said that it appeared Nunes had politicized intelligence.
“I don’t know whether we can say he’s politicized intelligence, what I would say is, it looks that way,” McLaughlin said.
Juan Zarate, former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, later added that intelligence politicization can sow doubt with foreign intelligence services.
“The real danger … is, do these services begin to not only feel that they’re not valued, but do they begin to see that the U.S. is beginning to politicize intelligence?” Zarate said. “If they begin to see that intelligence becomes a plaything in our political theater, that then really does begin to undermine confidence.”
Trump set off a firestorm in early March with his claim that the Obama administration ‘wiretapped’ him in the run-up to the election. A number of intelligence officials, and Nunes himself, have said that there is no evidence to support that claim.
Still, the trio of former officials agreed Thursday that, despite the president’s past inflammatory comments, Trump’s relationship with the intelligence is becoming more normal and has the possibility for improvement.
“It is substantial damage, I would not call it irrecoverable yet,” Hayden said of the effect of Trump’s past statements regarding the intelligence community.
McLaughlin said that the president’s daily briefing is going well, adding that CIA director Mike Pompeo often attends.
“There is an interchange that is starting to acquire elements of normalcy,” he said. “Morale in the community as I hear about it is not so bad.”
He stressed that the intelligence community is there to serve the president, and expressed confidence that any frustration would be set aside.
“The intelligence community will bend over backwards to figure out how to serve a president,” he said.
