Former CIA officials are increasingly willing to inject themselves into presidential politics. Former directors Michael Morrell and John McLaughlin want to educate the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates about national security issues.
The 2020 Democratic candidates face some fundamental questions about national security and intelligence issues.
Only Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have spelled out their thinking about national security issues in any detail. In broader strokes, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has made her anti-interventionist posture clear.
Rep. Seth Moulton, a decorated ex-Marine, has made rethinking national security the centerpiece of his possible candidacy.
Otherwise, the rest of the Democratic candidates are mostly undefined in their position toward the national security complex.
What’s Going On?
The former CIA officials seek to get the Democratic contenders on their side in time for the 2020 election, a measure of their discomfort with Trump.
The Washington Post observes:
… this unclassified document has the feel of an urgent primer, a way to quickly get the candidates up to speed on issues any president will face and to dispel myths and misperceptions. “We are incredibly divided as a nation . . . and there are debates about what the facts and the truth are on key issues,” Morell said. “When it comes to national security, that’s a dangerous thing.”
The involvement of former CIA officials in presidential politics is not unprecedented. President George H.W. Bush is the only CIA director ever to occupy the White House.
