A top former intelligence official said Sunday he wants to avoid the “impression” that he is changing his tune about President Trump in order to maintain his security clearance.
Days after the White House announced Trump had pulled former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance due to the “risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior,” former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden said “sure” when asked if he would be honored to be included in a group of Trump critics who have their security clearances removed.
“And frankly, if his not revoking my clearance gave the impression that I’ve somehow moved my commentary in a direction more acceptable to the White House, I would find that very disappointing and frankly unacceptable,” Hayden said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
[Also read: Michael Hayden: Revoking Brennan’s security clearance appeared to be a warning to other former officials]
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden on Trump threatening to revoke more security clearances: “If his not revoking my clearance gave the impression that I’ve somehow moved my commentary in a direction more acceptable to the White House, I would find that very disappointing” pic.twitter.com/xF53xLm9ue
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 19, 2018
He was responding to retired Adm. William McRaven, who oversaw the Navy SEAL raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, writing in an op-ed last week that it would be “an honor” for Trump to revoke his security clearance as he did for Brennan. McRaven defended Brennan as a man of “unparalleled integrity.”
Hayden said McRaven’s comments were “telling” for two reasons. “He said ‘take my clearance away,’ so that’s the local issue of Brennan and his clearance, but the admiral then went beyond that and made it a larger broader comment on why he’s upset with the administration,” Hayden said.
Hayden was one of 13 top former senior intelligence officials who signed a letter last week in support of Brennan.
“We feel compelled to respond in the wake of the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House,” they wrote. “We know John to be an enormously talented, capable and patriotic individual who devoted his entire adult life to the service of this nation.”
Also a signee, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, sat down with Hayden during the CNN panel and criticized Brennan for engaging in political rhetoric. He was responding to a New York Times op-ed written by Brennan that said Trump’s claims that he did not collude with the Russians during the 2016 election was “hogwash.”
“John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself,” Clapper said. “John is sort of like a freight train and he’s gonna say what’s on his mind.”
