'Not what you want to see': CIA expert flags White House tension after bombing
Appearing on MSNBC just hours after Donald Trump ordered a bombing attack on Iran, former CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos stated that amid all the uncertainty about how the attacked country will react is also lingering conflicts within the Trump administration over the move.
Speaking with the hosts of "The Weekend," Polymeropoulos suggested that it is common knowledge that CIA Director John Ratcliffe and DNI head Tulsi Gabbard are not on the same page.
Picking up from an earlier conversation during the show, the retired CIA agent was asked about the "tension" in the White House.
"What role will that play in how the administration thinks about what to do next?" host Jonathan Capehart asked.
"So again, let's start, Jonathan, with the premise that the intelligence community is incredibly important right now," Polymeropoulos replied. "Again, it's the idea of assessing Iranian regime reaction, it's also the notion of, you know, working with our allies overseas to thwart, detect. >> disrupt and deter Iranian terrorist reprisals."
"But we also have the, I think, well-reported dispute between Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, his Director of National Intelligence that I think we haven't focused on and first of all, that's not ideal," he added. "Let's just keep that in mind. What we haven't focused on, though, is that John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, he is the one who made this analogy of the football field that the Iranians have run 99 yards down the field and just had not made that decision to move forward –– that seems to have resonated with Trump."
"But what that says to me is there's also tension between the CIA director and the DNI," he elaborated. "And you kind of put that together... that's not really what you want to see at a time of international crisis again, with the notion that the intelligence community is of absolutely paramount importance now."
You can watch below or at the link.
- YouTube youtu.be