Retired CIA officer weighs in on tension between CIA and Trump

Politics December 14, 2016
Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston interviewed Glenn Carle, who worked for the CIA for 23 years before retiring in 2007, about the ongoing clashes between President-elect Donald Trump and the intelligence community at large.
Photo via @nytimes
· 13 Dec 2016

<Thread> Interviewed a 23-year CIA veteran today. He had one of the most unflinching, critical assessments of PEOTUS/CIA story I've heard.

71 replies 983 retweets 1,112 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Highlights thread. First, background. Spoke with Glenn Carle. He worked at CIA for 23 years, from Reagan to George W. Bush.

1 reply 92 retweets 142 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Carle retired in 2007 from CIA's Clandestine Service as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats.

1 reply 73 retweets 115 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

He worked on four continents, and participated in the CIA/Bush admin's "enhanced interrogation" efforts in early 2000s. Later wrote a book

2 replies 63 retweets 114 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

highly critical of CIA and White House "War on Terror". He did things he's not proud of. Believes CIA failed in its core mission then.

1 reply 86 retweets 171 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Carle says the current rift between PEOTUS and intelligence community is even worse. Historic crisis. Believes immediate action must be

4 replies 249 retweets 346 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

taken, including declassifying the CIA Russia analysis, in a way that does not reveal methods or sources.

6 replies 201 retweets 328 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

His greater concern is that the lack of trust between PEOTUS Trump and CIA destroys the intelligence community's very reason for being:

23 replies 614 retweets 804 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Carle agrees with frmr CIA acting director Morell that this is 'political equivalent of 9/11." Carle goes further.

Morell calls Russia's meddling in U.S. elections 'political equivalent of 9/11'
“It is huge and the fact that it hasn’t gotten more attention from the Obama Administration, Congress, and the mainstream media, is just shocking to me," he says.
politico.com
38 replies 1,132 retweets 1,209 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Exactly how unusual is this moment? Carle says unprecedented. Others (Hayden) have said similar. Their point is that POTUS always has right

1 reply 109 retweets 203 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

to argue with IC assessments. It happens often. Carle says he's never seen a rejection of fact going back to Eisenhower administration.

2 replies 292 retweets 401 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Rejection of analysis in Carle's view amounts to PEOTUS rejection of entire purpose of intel community.

7 replies 369 retweets 478 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

He takes it as an affront to their professionalism and service to American national security.

2 replies 89 retweets 233 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

I pressed him on a couple of points. 1) This is a leaked analysis that needs confirmation/investigation. He agreed. 2) The CIA's own past.

72 retweets 139 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Missteps. Including WMD/Iraq threat assessment. He said, "It is true that WMD we got wrong."

6 replies 64 retweets 113 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Isn't this a legitimate source of continued doubt/skepticism among American public and PEOTUS? I also ask him about his own doubts he had

1 reply 47 retweets 95 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

about the Agency he had in the past. He wrote about them in 2011 in his book, "The Interrogator: An Education." Brief aside here...

1 reply 42 retweets 86 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Carle was assigned to interrogate a person believed to be a high level Al Qaeda member. "Enhanced Interrogation." He becomes disilluioned

2 replies 48 retweets 85 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

with 'self-protective instincts' of intel community, and moral failing of Admin/IC to have embraced torture. His suspect turns out to be

43 retweets 88 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

low level. An 'egregious' error, Carle says. CIA refuses to release captive b/c to do so would have shown "War on Terror" to be a

46 retweets 90 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

'house of cards'. He's very critical of CIA in the book. See:

The Interrogator: Six Questions for Glenn Carle | Harper's Magazine
A career clandestine-services officer in the CIA, Glenn Carle drew an unusual assignment in the fall of 2002. He was sent to serve as the case officer of an Afghan merchant who had been seized and rendered, and who was believed to be Osama bin Laden’s “banker.” Carle quickly discerned, however, that the Agency’s suspicions were unjustified — what followed was a frustrating effort by Carle to win his release. In The Interrogator: An Education, Carle describes his struggle against the lethargy and self-protective instincts of the U.S. intelligence community. In the process, he discloses a great deal about the …
harpers.org
63 retweets 121 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

So I asked him if, and why, he has faith in the agency now? He says because the book is also about American idealism:

4 replies 69 retweets 137 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

He believes CIA has tried to rectify past errors. Also, see Gen. Hayden interview - Hayden believes CIA is taking high risk w/ assessmt

2 replies 64 retweets 111 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

NPR link:

Security Officials Question Russia's Intention On Election Hack
Rachel Martin talks to retired General Michael Hayden, a former director with the CIA and NSA, about the CIA's claims of Russian influence on the U.S. election, and Donald Trump's rejection of that.
npr.org
93 retweets 132 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Brings us back to Carle. I ask him about views from other high level IC people. Hayden says to bridge trust gap, CIA has to "get in

45 retweets 73 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

"...president's head. We need to get our version of reality in front of the President. We have to work hard to make that happen." Hayden

4 replies 55 retweets 95 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

I spoke with Ret. Admiral James Stavridis ystdy. He believes that trust btw PEOTUS/IC can be built, given time. See:

Retired Admiral James Stavridis On U.S. Foreign Policy Under Trump
Retired Admiral James Stavridis talks about the future of American foreign policy under President Donald Trump.
wbur.org
8 replies 49 retweets 66 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Does Carle believe the same thing? He says plainly, powerfully: No.

10 replies 238 retweets 332 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Carle believes he is in "no way representing a partisan faction of the national security establishment."

1 reply 68 retweets 105 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

Again, he retired in 2007, so not directly inside IC now. But did serve in CIA for 23 years from Reagan to GWB. He says this is a "crisis"

6 replies 109 retweets 143 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

from the agency level all the way down to individual officers. That's how worried he is right now.

11 replies 345 retweets 408 likes
· 13 Dec 2016

One view, one man. Audio of on air conversation here: <END THREAD>

Former CIA Officer On Trump's Battle With Intelligence Community
"If you can't talk to the president, how can you function?" asks Glenn Carle.
wbur.org
19 replies 243 retweets 366 likes

More Moments
Dept. of Education learns lesson on spelling of W.E.B. Du Bois
Education 34 minutes ago
@usedgov apologized for misspelling the civil rights pioneer's name in an earlier Tweet.
34 Likes
Trump incorrectly describes CNN's Bernie Sanders interview
Politics 5 hours ago
It is clear that Senator Sanders was mocking the president when he said "CNN fake news" in an interview on the network. CNN said the interruption that followed was due to technical difficulties, while Trump said it was because Sanders defined the network as so-called fake news.
360 Likes
Trump advisor Miller fuels baseless voter fraud claims
Politics 2 hours ago
The president's senior policy advisor, Stephen Miller, is under the spotlight for a variety of things said while making the rounds on Sunday's political talk shows. Notably, his exchange with ABC's George Stephanopoulos got heated when he furthered Trump's widely debunked claims of illegal votes.
382 Likes
Firefighters battling multiple bushfires in NSW
Weather Last night
Over 80 fires were burning across New South Wales on Sunday afternoon as hot and dry conditions forced authorities to issue a catastrophic fire warning for the first time.
25 Likes

The following Moment may contain sensitive content.

Previous
Next