The director of the CIA is supposed to stay out of the policy advice business. (Whether they actually keep to that behind closed doors is unlikely.) So it is extraordinary to see John Brennan –in an interview with the BBC reported in the Times–publicly warning the next president against cozying up to Vladimir Putin, reinstating waterboarding, or tearing up the Iran nuclear accord which he said would be “the height of folly” and “disastrous.”
(In other words, he told President-elect Trump to drop nearly every one of his declared national security positions.)
The DCI, who is on his way out the door, was careful not to attribute this wrong headedness to malign intent. Instead he suggested that the incoming Trumpsters have been working on faulty intelligence:
“There are a lot of people out there who read the papers and listened to news broadcasts where the facts may be a bit — you know — off. And so I want to make sure the new team understands what the reality is. It ultimately will be up to them to decide how to carry out their responsibilities.”
Maybe they would pay more attention if he tweeted his advice.