“Standard journalistic contributors—reporters, anchors, editors, producers—pursue the news wherever it goes without fear or favor, as the famous motto puts it. But almost to a one, the TV spooks still identify with their former employers at the CIA, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, or other security agencies and remain protective of their institutions. This makes nearly every word that comes out of their mouths suspect. Are they telling God’s truth or are they shilling for their former bosses? Or worse yet, do they have other employers causing them to pull punches in yet another direction?”
Jack Shafer — Politico’s senior media writer (February 6 2018)
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
William Casey, CIA Director 1981-1987 (Attributed)
America’s top spies no longer retire. Instead, they sign very lucrative TV News contracts. Former CIA Director John Brennan has just been hired as a paid contributor by NBC and MSNBC. The downside of this new trend is obvious. These spies are not in the business of reporting the truth. Just like the primary mission of the New York Time is to protect the Time, the primary mission of the CIA is to protect the CIA. Once a spook, always a spook. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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There is much discussion regarding misinformation and manipulation in the age of social media. The phenomenon is by no mean a product of our time.
For decades, intelligence agencies have used mainstream media to plant stories and deceive the readers. [ Those interested in this subject will study the work published by Carl Bernstein: CIA and the Media.]
Today, the coverage of US National Security matters is directly outsourced to “TV spies”. And that is bad news.
Former CIA Director John Brennan (2013-17) is the latest super-spook to be reborn as a TV newsie. He just cashed in at NBC News as a “senior national security and intelligence analyst” and served his first expert views on last Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press. The Brennan acquisition seeks to elevate NBC to spook parity with CNN, which employs former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director Michael Hayden in a similar capacity. Other, lesser-known national security veterans thrive under TV’s grow lights. Almost too numerous to list, they include Chuck Rosenberg, former acting DEA administrator, chief of staff for FBI Director James B. Comey, and counselor to former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III; Frank Figliuzzi, former chief of FBI counterintelligence; Juan Zarate, deputy national security adviser under Bush at NBC; and Fran Townsend, homeland security adviser under Bush, at CBS News. CNN’s bulging roster also includes former FBI agent Asha Rangappa, former FBI agent James Gagliano, Obama’s former deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, senior adviser to the National Security Council during the Obama administration Samantha Vinograd, retired CIA operations officer Steven L. Hall and Philip Mudd, also retired from the CIA. (…) And CNN is still adding to its bench. Last Saturday, former James Comey aide Josh Campbell wrote a New York Times op-ed on why he was leaving the FBI on principle. By Monday, the network was announcing his new position as a “law enforcement analyst.”
Let us be realistic. When the CIA — just like any other US Intel agency — leaks some information to the media, the spooks have an agenda. And, to be sure, their agenda is rarely — if ever — the truth.
The irony of Brennan being hired by NBC was not lost on Glenn Greenwald, journalist and “The Intercept” co-founder .
“Just what NBC & MSNBC were lacking: the CIA view. What’s the point of having @KenDilanianNBC to serve as a vessel for CIA messaging when you just get it directly from the horse’s mouth under the guise of ‘news’?
Isn’t it a little strange to constantly rail about “state TV” when it comes to RT & Fox and then hire CIA Directors & Generals as your ‘news analysts’?”
Amazingly, NBC has obviously forgotten that John Brennan blatantly lied to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell about using the CIA to spy on Democratic staffers investigating torture.
DNI Clapper tells Sen. Wyden the NSA does not collect data on millions of Americans
James Clapper lied to America. Clapper was questioned by Senator Ron Wyden on March 12, 2013 during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Global Security Threats and Intelligence Operations about whether or not the NSA collects data on “millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.”
At that time, Clapper was Director of National Intelligence, or DNI. It was later revealed that this was false; it was a lie.
Americans know this now because of Edward Snowden who leaked classified information. Whether or not people feel Snowden is a villain or a hero, the fact is that Clapper lied under oath and we know that because of Snowden.
At the time of the hearing, the NSA had been collecting data on hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans. Many believe that in spite of changes made after this revelation, the NSA still collects this kind data without the Americans being informed of this activity.
REFERENCES
The Spies Who Came in to the TV Studio — Politico
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Spooks & The Media — How The Spooks Take Over The News
Intel Today 