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Leon Panetta While a Southern California based congressman in the 1970s and ’80s, CIA director and Obama Secretary of Defense nominee Leon Panetta, was close to a pro-communist, Santa Cruz based “peace activist” named Lucy Haessler. In spite (or perhaps because of) Haessler’s involvement with the Women’s International Democratic Federation, Panetta placed a tribute in the Congressional Record, April 11, 1984, to mark Haessler’s 80th birthday. Panetta noted that Lucy Haessler attended several conferences of the East German based organization in France, the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany. He did neglect to mention however that the W.I.D.F. was...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The five men — who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades — said the dismissals were alarming, raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and removed legal constraints on the president’s power. Late last week, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of...

Five former secretaries of Defense have signed a letter protesting the firing by President Trump of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C. Q. Brown, demanding the Senate refuse to confirm Trump’s nominee to replace Brown and for Congress to investigate the firing of Brown and other senior officers by Trump. Trump nominated retired Air Force Lieutenant General Dan “Razin” Caine to replace Brown. Caine will need a waiver from Trump on meeting the legal requirements for the chairman. The five who signed are Trump’s first SecDef, James Mattis, Biden’s AWOL SecDef Lloyd Austin, Obama SecDefs Leon Panetta...

On Sunday, December 22, a US Navy guided-missile cruiser, the USS Gettysburg, mistakenly shot down an American fighter jet over the Red Sea. This was not the first incident of friendly fire by the U.S. Navy, nor the most tragic. On Sunday morning, July 3, 1988, at the tail end of the Iran-Iraq War, an Aegis cruiser in the Persian Gulf, the USS Vincennes, fired two Standard Missiles at a commercial Iranian Airbus, IR 655. Captain Will Rogers III and his crew had mistaken the ascending passenger jet with 290 people on board for a descending Iranian F-14, a fighter...

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta referred to Israel’s pager operation as “terrorism” during a recent interview with CBS News. In Lebanon last week, mass explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to members of the Iran-back Shiite group Hezbollah. The attack has been widely attributed to Israel’s intelligence organization Mossad, leading to the deaths of dozens of people and wounding thousands. During an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Panetta told anchor Lee Cowan that the action’s by Israel are “a form of terrorism.” Panetta then added that the actions by Israel could lead to more deadly operations going forward in...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who has endorsed 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that Harris was in the room when decisions about the Afghanistan withdrawal were made, but she was there “to listen” and doesn’t “bear the same responsibility that the President bears with regards to the final decision.” Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “So, Harris is going to be giving this interview on the eve of what is the third anniversary of America’s total withdrawal from Afghanistan. You spoke last week at the DNC, forcefully...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta responded to President Joe Biden scolding Israel for seemingly assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by saying that “one of the things that we’ve encouraged Israel to do is to target the leaders of Hamas that were involved in the attack on Israel.” And that this is what Israel should do. Panetta acknowledged that the killing could have an impact on ceasefire talks, but argued, “that is what war is all about. And ultimately, it’s the price you have to pay in order...

An early Soviet active measures campaign took on a life of its own and survived the collapse of the USSR. It provided the philosophical and strategic bases for a cultural Marxist revolution so profound that it penetrated the cores of the CIA and FBI. That is one of the startling findings of scholar J. Michael Waller in his new book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains. Published today [January 16] by Regnery, Big Intel shows how the intelligence community failed to defend the United States against a decades-old Soviet covert...

Former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden, who has fashioned a post-government career attacking and censoring conservatives, is spending his Thanksgiving week smearing patriotic American Christians who own firearms, claiming they are “no different” from Hamas terrorists. On Wednesday, Michael Hayden responded to a post on X that juxtaposed two photos: one of a woman holding an American flag, Bible, and handgun; the other of Palestinian terrorist Reem Riyashi, who killed herself along with four Israelis in a 2004 suicide bombing that was claimed by Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

An alleged campaign finance violation could ensnare Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 51 former senior intelligence officials who asserted without evidence in 2020 that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. America First Legal, a conservative organization run by former Donald Trump White House aide Stephen Miller, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in late October, alleging a "coordinated communication" and an unreported in-kind contribution to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and related entities, in violation of federal law. "[The] evidence suggests that the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in-kind donations with respect to the...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta responded to questions on whether he regrets signing a letter that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation knowing what he knows now by stating, “I think that disinformation is involved here. I think Russian disinformation is part of what we’re seeing everywhere.” And “I don’t have any regrets about not trusting the Russians.” Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 4:10] “I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about that letter you signed on to from former intelligence...

This is a way underreported story. It was Antony Blinken, the limp wristed Secretary of State who bends over for all US adversaries while calling it a success, who reached out to ex-CIA Director Mike Morrell to cobble together a group of "intelligence experts" who would sign a false statement calling the Hunter Biden laptop "Russian disinformation" so Biden could use it a hammer to pound Donald Trump in their debate. Morrell was eager to help. After all, he was motivated to do so. Financially motivated. In 2017 the thinktank Atlantic Council signed an agreement with Burisma despite knowing it...

Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe criticized former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for saying he does not regret signing the letter suggesting the Hunter Biden's laptop story was "Russian disinformation." Ratcliffe said, "everyone knows" Panetta and other former intelligence officials "made a mistake" with their declaration before the 2020 election. Ratcliffe said on "Fox & Friends," that the officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were running a "political interference operation." "JOHN RATCLIFFE: I appreciate Secretary Panetta's prior service to the country, but everyone knows that he did make a mistake. Everyone knows that he was wrong. Everyone knows that...

After several news organizations authenticated the laptop's contents, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked the ex-Obama official Monday night whether he wished he never signed the letter "given what we know now." "No, not at all," Panetta told Collins. "I signed that letter for one reason, which was to make the American people aware that the Russians deliberately were engaged in a disinformation campaign in the United States and trying to impact on our election and trying to impact on our ability to have free and fair elections. That's why I signed that letter." The ex-CIA director continued, "And very frankly,...

A retired CIA leader coordinated a letter from former intelligence chiefs claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation because he wanted to help Joe Biden's presidential campaign. Mike Morell told the House Judiciary Committee that he was asked by Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State - who at the time was a senior member of the Biden campaign - to help discredit the laptop reporting. Morell was a former acting CIA director, serving for two months in 2011 and four months from 2012 to 2013. He retired from the CIA in September 2013. The House Judiciary Committee, led by...

WASHINGTON – A former top intelligence official who signed on to a letter attacking The Post’s bombshell 2020 reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation has now admitted he knew a “significant portion” of the recovered files “had to be real” – but doesn’t regret dismissing the exposé. ... The Oct. 19 letter — whose signatories included former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan — went out of its way to cast doubt on the legitimacy of The Post’s scoop, devoting five paragraphs to explaining “factors that make...

1. Question: How do we know that Obama, VP Biden, Bush 43, VP Cheney did not remove government documents, classified or otherwise, in violation of federal law?— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) August 12, 20222. The National Archives statement today address the documents that they acquired, but was there any kind of search of the homes of any of these former top officials? Indeed, has there been any kind of substantive inquiry?— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) August 12, 20223. How about former attorneys general, former CIA directors & the like? Furthermore, have any of these officials violated federal law while in...

When the U.S. security state announces that Big Tech's centralized censorship power must be preserved, we should ask what this reveals about whom this regime serves. A group of former intelligence and national security officials on Monday issued a jointly signed letter warning that pending legislative attempts to restrict or break up the power of Big Tech monopolies — Facebook, Google, and Amazon — would jeopardize national security because, they argue, their centralized censorship power is crucial to advancing U.S. foreign policy. The majority of this letter is devoted to repeatedly invoking the grave threat allegedly posed to the U.S....

On Monday, former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reacted to President Joe Biden calling for a regime change in Russia during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden stated in a recent speech in Warsaw, Poland.

When the New York Post brought to light Hunter Biden’s laptop in October 2020 just before the presidential election, 51 top intelligence experts all discredited the story that has now been verified by The New York Times and they steadfastly refuse to apologize for it. These are current and former spies and high-ranking military officials who are supposed to ensure the safety of the United States. Instead, they ostensibly provided cover for President Joe Biden to get elected, claiming the laptop story “has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” in what many consider a Deep State operation designed...