RFE/RLSun, 15 Jan 2017 23:03 UTC
© ReutersA not-so-happy John Brennan
Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan has called on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to watch what he says and posts on social media, saying spontaneity is not in the interests of national security.
Brennan said "talking and tweeting" is not an option for Trump, who will be inaugurated as the 45th U.S. president on January 20.
"Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests and so, therefore, when he speaks or when he reacts, just make sure he understands that the implications and impact on the United States could be profound," Brennan said in a January 15 interview with Fox News.
Brennan also warned Trump about Russia's intentions.
"I don't think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia's intentions and actions," Brennan said.
A declassified intelligence report released last week said Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a hidden campaign to influence the election to favor Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Moscow has denied the allegations.
Trump and his supporters have staunchly resisted the findings and Trump has leveled a series of broadsides at U.S. intelligence agencies.
Trump has called for better relations with Russia and suggested he'd consider easing sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama as a response to the alleged election hacking.
Comment: And here is
Trump's response:
In a matter of hours, Trump responded with a two-tweet outburst questioning whether the CIA director had leaked a recent unsubstantiated dossier to the media. The dossier claims that Russia had gathered compromising personal information about Trump.
"Just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?"
On January 11, the day after the dossier was released by BuzzFeed, Trump also said on Twitter that intelligence agencies "should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak'" before asking, "Are we living in Nazi Germany?"
The BuzzFeed publication triggered a week of finger-pointing between Trump and intelligence leadership. On Fox News, Brennan said Trump's reference to Nazi Germany was an insult to US intelligence officers.
"What I do find outrageous is equating an intelligence community with Nazi Germany," he said. "I do take great umbrage at that, and there is no basis for Mr. Trump to point fingers at the intelligence community for leaking information that was already available publicly."
Brennan's response mush be a joke. The CIA was practically stocked full of
literal Nazis after WWII (chief among them, Reinhard Gehlen, not to mention Allen "Never Met a Nazi I Didn't Like" Dulles)!
This is better than any movie! Pass the popcorn!
I am all out of popcorn, Lol!