Former CIA director says people must understand โhow dangerous a world we live in right nowโ
Leon Panetta, the former director of the CIA during Barack Obamaโs first term, has warned that President Donald Trumpโs decision to bomb Iran โ and the intelligence disputes surrounding it โ only serve to emphasize โhow dangerous a world we live in right now.โ
Panetta, 86, who also served as Bill Clintonโs chief of staff and currently co-hosts the foreign policy podcast One Decision, told The i Paper: โI donโt think thereโs any alternative but to understand how dangerous a world we live in right now.
โNot only because of the adversaries that are out there โ whether itโs China, or Russia, or North Korea, or Iran, or terrorism โ but also because of the concerns about leadership, and whether or not the U.S. will exercise the right kind of leadership in a dangerous world.โ
In the run-up, the president dismissed the significance of his own Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard briefing Congress in March that Iran was not currently advancing its efforts to build a weapon of mass destruction.
He also sidelined her from Situation Room meetings discussing the conflict but offered no evidence of his own to contradict her assessment.
The president and his administration have since attacked The New York Times and CNN for reporting on a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that found the damage done to the Fordo, Natanz, and Esfahan facilities was not as severe as Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had indicated.
Responding to those tensions, Panetta said: โThereโs no question that when the U.S. president makes a statement that our intelligence assessments are wrong and doesnโt believe our own intelligence, that creates a very dangerous moment.
โIt undermines the work of our intelligence professionals who really are focused on trying to provide the president with the truth. When the president questions their credibility, that certainly undermines their morale, Iโm sure.
โBut secondly, it also creates a real problem for the president, because if he rejects the intelligence heโs receiving, then what will be the basis for the decisions that he makes in the future, and that is a very scary prospect.โ
The former official added: โI have always been confident about our intelligence assessments with regards to Iranโฆ The fundamental question is: did they make a decision to proceed with developing a weapon? And I think our intelligence indicates that that still was not the case.โ
For Panetta, the episode provides the latest example of Trumpโs โunpredictabilityโ as a leader, which poses a risk to Americaโs NATO allies, who met this week in the Netherlands, at a time of heightened international unease.
โIt really does rest with our European allies to do everything necessary to make sure that NATO is prepared militarily, to be able to respond if necessary,โ he said.
