Ex-CIA head fears ‘crisis in civil-military relationships’ under Trump
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden argued Wednesday that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may strain the “fabric of our civilian military control.”
Hayden, who also served as director of the National Security Agency, said he was most concerned with “how erratic [Trump] is.”
{mosads}”He’s inconsistent, and when you’re the head of a global superpower, inconsistency, unpredictability — those are dangerous things. They frighten your friends and they tempt your enemies,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I would be very, very concerned.”
Asked who among his peers of national security experts were advising Trump that he knew of, Hayden responded, “No one.”
Host Joe Scarborough noted that the U.S. military has historically deferred to civilian leadership but asked about safeguards in the case of using nuclear weapons under Trump.
Hayden said he shared the fear of retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen that “we may be setting up the circumstances that create a crisis in civil-military relationships,” clarifying, “not nuclear annihilation, but steps far below pressing the nuclear trigger.”
“What happens within the armed forces when you have, we fear, perhaps these kind of decisions for a military that does defer to civilian leadership, what then happens?” asked Hayden. “It may actually strain and test the fabric of our civilian military control.”
Unlike Allen, who endorsed Clinton at last week’s Democratic National Convention, Hayden said he wasn’t ready to support the former secretary of State. Still, he said he didn’t see much Trump could do now to win his support and that it’s “possible” he may not vote at all.
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