Our nation’s intelligence services have been corrupted by politics. One needs to look no further than former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) head John “O” Brennan, NSA Director Michael Hayden and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (Clap on…clap off…THE LOSER”). They have cashed in on being the three amigos running our intelligence apparatus during the Obama years and they have security clearances giving them access to information that, as private citizens, they have no business having access to.
Let’s take them one by one and see why they have all disqualified themselves from having access to classified information. Brennan started his career by violating one of the core questions you are asked before entering government service – he voted for Communist Party nominee Gus Hall for President in 1980. He admitted that when he applied for a job with the CIA and asked whether he had “ever worked with or for a group that was dedicated to overthrowing the U.S.?” He struggled whether to answer honestly that he had voted for Gus Hall a man who, according to the New York Times, “served eight years in prison on Smith Act charges of conspiring to teach and advocate forcible overthrow of the Government.” He also cast a vote for Black Panther militant Angela Davis, who was the Vice Presidential nominee and, again according to the New York Times, “was arrested that fall (in 1970) for allegedly supplying guns that were used in an attempted prisoner breakout and charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.” Brennan probably should have never been allowed to chart a path that ended up running the CIA.
During Brennan’s tenure with the Obama Administration, he played a significant role in “Terror Tuesdays” when the Obama Administration perused a “kill list,” that reportedly included an American citizen, and then made decisions on who would live and who would die – in secret. Now he is using his talents to politically kill President Donald J. Trump. Probably a good idea that this guy lose his security clearance.
Fast forward to today and Brennan’s leftist leanings are on display with his signing of a contract with the Never-Trump MSNBC/NBC to use the information he gathered as intel chief to bash our current Commander-in-Chief. Brennan recently Tweeted that he believed Trump’s Helsinki press conference “exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous.” Brennan also accused Trump of “wholly in the pocket of Putin.” Brennan is a partisan hack and he should not be allowed access to classified information when he calls on “Republican Patriots” to remove Trump from office. If anybody is guilty of treason, it might be Mr. Brennan.
Trump-hating former National Intelligence Director James Clapper is another interesting case. Clapper made himself famous when he lied under oath before Congress on March 12, 2013 when he was asked directly by Senator Ron Wyden whether intelligence officials collected data on Americans. Clapper responded “No, sir.” A few months later, a true patriot, Edward Snowden leaked information that the NSA had collected metadata from phone companies on calls made by US citizens and Internet communications. Snowden was rewarded with the threat of prosecution under treason law and Clapper has been rewarded with a paid gig at CNN. There are even allegations that Clapper leaked the Steele Dossier to CNN and that his contributors job was a reward for leaking. Clapper lied under oath about the federal government violating the 4th Amendment rights of all Americans and may have leaked classified information trashing Trump to CNN – that sounds more like an abuse of power and treason than anything Trump said at his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Michael Hayden was former head of the National Intelligence Agency and the CIA. He wrote a book in 2016 titled “Playing to the Edge” that made the case for warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, torture and targeted assassinations. He followed that book up with one this year titled “The Assault on Intelligence” that, according to the National Public Radio, “in The Assault On Intelligence, former CIA Director Michael Hayden says the Trump administration has ushered in what he calls a ‘post-truth world,’ and he scolds the president for waging a war on U.S. spy agencies.” Quite ironic that a man who lead the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping that violated the 4th Amendment rights of untold numbers of American citizens and never told the Americans that they were being monitored, now wants to preach about an assault on truth.
What Brennan, Clapper and Hayden all have in common is that they have gone from the intelligence apparatus to network talking heads who have awesome titles that give them credibility. They also are all unhinged Never-Trumpers who never refuse a cheap shot at the President. They should all lose their security clearances at a minimum and people should read up on the high crimes and misdemeanors that may have occurred under their watch. The call by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and the president’s commencement of proceedings to revoke the three Musketeers of the deep state is long overdue.
Christian Josi is the former Executive director of the American Conservative Union. Brian Darling is former chief counsel to Sen. Rand Paul.
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