Is the President the Commander in Chief? Do the people who work for the government owe the full faith and allegiance to the President? Who sets policy and answers for the actions of the government on behalf of the nation? What does the chain of command actually mean?
The comments
John McLaughlin, formerly of the CIA, made some interesting remarks on Wednesday evening. He was at an event hosted by the Michael V. Hayden Center and Schar School of Policy and Government. Other panelists included former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell.
McLaughlin served in the CIA under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. McLaughlin was Deputy Director of the CIA from 2000 to 2004. He was acting director of the agency for just over two months in 2004. Former acting CIA chief John McLaughlin spoke to the panel of former FBI and intelligence officials. He told the moderator, “Thank God for the deep state.”
The former head of the CIA praised the so-called “Deep State.” His remarks were for “doing its duty” and “responding to a higher call.” By that he seems to mean by calling out President Donald Trump’s activities involving Ukraine. Included was instigating the impeachment inquiry.
Concurrence
Tom Elliott @tomselliott tweeted @JohnBrennan on the whistleblower coming from the Intel community: They’re “…ighting in the trenches here and overseas … I’m just pleased every day that my former colleagues in the intelligence community continue to do their duties.”
Moderator Margaret Brennan of CBS News put a question to McLaughlin. The question was whether President Trump’s complaints about a cabal of government bureaucrats trying to undermine his presidency had any legitimacy. The answer, from McLaughlin, was, flippantly, yes.
“Think about it for a minute… With all of the people who knew what was going on here, it took an intelligence operative to step forward and say something about it. Which was the trigger that then unleashed everything else…” he said.
Conclusion
“Why does that happen? This is the institution within the U.S. government that, with all of its flaws… and it makes mistakes… is institutionally committed to objectivity and to telling the truth. It is one of the few institutions in Washington that is not in a chain of command that makes or implements policy. Its whole job is to speak the truth… These are people who are doing their duty or responding to a higher call,” McLaughlin said. Where is the line between agency mission and duty to country? Do you think the word coup d’ etat applies?