Page 5 - Career Intelligence News Today

Critics. i dont think as weve seen this morning with john brennans op-ed it wont be successful in silencing those who are threatened and on what does appear to be an enemies list. the thing im most concerned about, though, john is not about john brennans security clearance, jim clappers or mine or any former officials. the concern i have is the message this sends to career intelligence officials, career intelligence professionals and law enforcement professionals whose job it is to do independen...

President trump is considering revoking security clearances of a handful of former intelligence officials that have been critical of the president. so is this a real threat or just a way to distract from the various russia headlines? joining us now is democratic senator chris coons of delaware. senator, thanks so much for being with us. you were asked flat out if the presidents all caps tweets on iran and then of course this statement from the white house press briefing room on the possibility o...

Transitioned into government somehow. these are people who are career intelligence law enforcement professional. >> lets get to the broader point that elise was trying to make earlier that maybe we need to revamp the security system. i want to share what rand paul said on fox. >> i told the president in private what ive been saying in public, i think theres a great danger to having talking heads on tv who are ex-cia agents and still have classified clearance. theres a real danger they might inad...

>> and i also believe they changed a single vote. they didnt change a single vote. >> thats not what i asked you. i asked you whether -- >> mike -- when steve is talking about the leadership in the intelligence community, you referenced, well, i totally get that perspective. the president says the same thing. hes put his own people in. he now has confidence in his intelligence community. but the people who are actually the career intelligence people, the people actually doing the intercepts, the...

Of our trust. >> do you believe the russians meddled in the election, steve? do you believe the russians meddled in the election? do you believe they attacked our electoral system? >> i think the russians among many nations tried to interfere in our elections, yes. >> so youre qualifying this also. >> and i also believe they changed a single vote. they didnt change a single vote. >> thats not what i asked you. i asked you whether -- >> mike -- when steve is talking about the leadership in the in...

And other folks like that, we need them because theyre responsible for the basic blocking and tackling, and they are career intelligence professionals. so what im going to say now doesnt apply to them. but director coats, senator coats is in the job because of his political gravitas, and so there might be different requirements on him. now, i frankly, and i watch this very closely, don. i frankly think hes very straightforward and frankly somewhat courageous in saying things without a whole lot ...

Weaknesses in our system. >> ive got to ask you as someone because you worked for presidents, what do you do when the president contradicts you and you have to put out your own statement that doesnt match up with the presidents own words? we talk about this a lot, should folks who work there like director dan coats, should he resign and others stay in their jobs to frankly protect the american people from their own president? >> the only good answer i can give you, don, is the little longish and...

Worked with haspel during her time as deputy cia chief joins us right now from capitol hill to weigh in. good morning to you, senator. >> good morning, steve. the president, i think it was a day or two ago tweeted out she has been tough on terrorists. isnt that what we want? >> yeah, steve, if gina haspel being tough on terrorists is the worst thing the democrats have on her, thats not much of a case against her. this is a very distinguished career intelligence professional. she spent 33 years i...

Al qaeda prisoner. >> in many ways i agree with senator wyden. she must and will face tough questions when she appears before congress on wednesday, about the tapes issue and her role in that black site and perspective actions going forward. if she receives an order to carry out torture, enhanced interrogation techniques, would she comply with that? and i think she has to give sufficient answers there. and i think doing so will require more information from the cia. but i think the story that gi...

Block things from coming out of committee, but i dont know that theres that appetite for that sort of political fight, because you do need someone in this office going into the next few weeks. >> and carrie, the vote in the senate foreign relations committee is scheduled for late this afternoon. it looks like hes not going to be confirmed there, but then they can just put it on the senate floor, as kouran points out, and it looks like he narrowly got through. when he was nominated to be the cia ...