Thread by @STUinSD

Thread: An Old IC Guy on Gen Michael Hayden’s Anti-Trump Rants

1. Gen Michael Hayden is a former Director of the National Security Agency, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under George W Bush.

2. He is a card-carrying Swamp denizen and a vocal #NeverTrumper, appearing on legacy media networks to bash the president at every turn. Here is just one example (overseas, no less!):

spiegel.de/international/…

3. And he even wrote a book that critiques the president’s “America first” national security policy:

cbsnews.com/news/former-ci…

4. Particularly execrable were his comments on CNN on 11 Jun when he stated that President Trump made himself look "unstable, erratic and thin skinned" by choosing to attack Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

msn.com/en-ca/news/vid…

5. #NeverTrumpers are a dime a dozen, but let us examine a funny anecdote from Hayden’s tenure at the CIA to get the measure of the man.

6. When he came to the CIA, there was an "all hands" e-mail sent out over the secure system (high-side) that addressed how CIA employees were to interface with the general.

7. How to address him (General - not Mike, Mr. Hayden or even "Director" - respectful discourse – kind of like "Military Courtesy Lite”). This did not go over well. Even as I was laughing my butt off at my desk, apparently everyone was doing the same.

8. Mike shows up first day in uniform - stars all shiny. Mostly he was ignored. Most people who had to address him opened with a firm handshake and a fairly loud "Howdy Mike - welcome aboard," and a few (the field ops types - pretty much all well-vetted ex-Mil Spec Ops types) ….

8A. …welcomed him aboard and then made it clear that this was not the military where it is follow directions with no questions asked AND reminded him that this was not the NSA, and we do not spy on Americans here (well, anyway - at the time).

9. By day two, we received another all hands e-mail telling us that "Mike" was okay with Mike, and that Mike was all about being a full-up member of the CIA team. I read that as "Roger; WILCO.” (WILCO means “will comply” - for the unwashed.)

10. For reference, George Tenet (a predecessor as CIA director) was always telling folks to call him George. He was one of the team (or at least knew that this was important to all levels of employees). He several times told me to call him George (I always used "Mr. Director").

11. I had to tell him no, he was the director, and that was that. And that I was one of his field operations guys who did as tasked. Once told him I needed him to be the Director, and that I relied on him for top cover after I completed those taskings and came home to face ….

11A. …the mid-managers who were threatened by the risk THEY faced when WE actually did dangerous operations. He got that and thought it was funny - BUT - he always provided that top cover AND made sure guys like me got the odd promotion ….

11B. …(by directly inserting his druthers into the promotion board's list of promotees (which made said managers nuts).

12. In contrast, Hayden was limp-wristed - shaking his hand was - well - ugh. He never really understood a field operator's motives or what we did for the president and country.

13. CIA, USAF, NSA, whatever – he was just a useless bureaucrat who got his promotions through kissing up until he reached his level of total incompetence (guess instead of Mike we ought to have called him Peter). ///The end.

Addendum: My advice when you see him on the boob tube? Turn the channel because he's not worth a minute of your time.

@threadreaderapp pls unroll; tnx!