Panetta: Trump's pick for DNI 'basically a political hack for the president'

[0:00] And I want to bring in former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta now. [0:05] Thank you so much for joining us, sir. You have met with Netanyahu yourself. You've negotiated [0:10] with him. Trump and Netanyahu have frequently touted their relationship as the closest ever [0:15] between an American president and Israeli leader. If Trump tells Bibi to stop the shooting and take [0:21] whatever deal may be negotiated with Iran, is Bibi going to listen? Well, I think that's [0:28] subject to a lot of question right now. You know, the problem is that it's hard to find anybody [0:37] in the Middle East right now that has any credibility. I'm not sure I trust what anybody's [0:43] saying. The president continues to say that we're going to get a deal within a few days. We were [0:49] supposed to get a deal by last weekend. It never happens. Israel has indicated that it would support [0:57] a ceasefire, but it continues to confront Hezbollah, and I think it will continue to confront Hezbollah. [1:05] And Iran, very frankly, continues to break the ceasefire along with Israel. And so none of the [1:13] parties seem to be abiding by any kind of ceasefire. I think the situation in the Middle East is one of [1:20] turmoil. There is very little direction right now. And I think there's a great danger that the war [1:27] will continue into the future and not end. You make a good point. There should be a healthy [1:34] degree of skepticism when we hear from leaders in totality in this equation. The president was [1:40] also asked in an interview whether he'd consider sending American troops home from the region. [1:45] Here's what he said. It costs us very little to keep them there. I don't consider them in danger. [1:53] We have the best defense anyone's ever seen. We have the best offense anyone's ever seen. [1:56] So I don't consider it danger. But I think we'll keep them there until such time as we have [2:01] a completion. [2:03] Sir, I have reported on at least 13 fallen servicemen and women. Others have been injured. [2:10] What's your reaction to the president essentially saying that he doesn't believe American troops are [2:14] in harm's way right now? [2:15] I think the president doesn't understand what our military are facing at the present time, [2:29] nor does he understand that you cannot just commit our forces to an area of the world [2:36] without any kind of endgame. And right now, these forces have been there over, what, 100 days or more. [2:48] And some of them have been deployed going back to Venezuela. And so our troops cannot just be out [2:58] there without some semblance of support. They've run out of missiles. I'm sure it's impacting on their [3:07] morale to be there. I think that both the secretary of defense and the president have to think long and [3:16] hard about whether or not some of these units that have been deployed ought to be rotated because [3:23] they've been on the front line for a very long time. And when that happens, you begin to pay a price [3:31] for their readiness. [3:33] You have previously said that Iran is becoming Trump's Vietnam, as you just mentioned. We've just [3:37] passed the 100-day mark here. What convinces you that this may have become Trump's Vietnam [3:45] three months into this conflict? [3:49] Well, I don't think there's any question because, you know, Vietnam was about negotiating. [3:57] And there were negotiations that went on. In fact, an agreement was arrived at. But in the end, [4:05] there was nothing that the United States could do to stop North Vietnam from controlling all of [4:14] Vietnam. We lost that war. And I think we're headed in that direction now. We're negotiating. [4:22] But the reality is that we're dealing with a very hardline regime that cannot be trusted. And I think [4:30] any agreement, whether it's to partially open the Straits of Hormuz, whether it's to deal with [4:36] nuclear enrichment, I simply do not believe that the United States can trust the word of a hardline [4:46] regime that has never kept its word. And so how do we get out of this? [4:52] For that reason, I think this war is not going to end well. [4:56] Right now, I want to just pivot to a bit of a different topic, which is [5:00] the renewal of a critical foreign surveillance law, FISA. It's up in the air in Congress because [5:05] of a revolt, essentially, over the president's pick to head the to be the acting head of DNI, [5:11] Bill Pulte. First, how big of a risk is it if FISA is not renewed? [5:20] Well, it is a risk to our security because, very frankly, FISA is very important to our ability [5:27] to be able to track those who may be threatening our security, our country. And with terrorism, [5:38] with a lot of adversaries in the world that we're confronting, [5:40] I think there's a danger that if we're not able to anticipate where those threats are coming from, [5:48] that it will undermine our national security. So FISA does have to be extended. I can understand [5:54] that right now there's a great deal of concern about the appointment to the director of national [6:01] intelligence. I share that disappointment. This individual has absolutely no experience, [6:07] has no background in dealing with intelligence, is going to be sent there pretty much to basically [6:13] shut down the operation of the DNI. That's going to hurt us in terms of our intelligence capability, [6:21] the sharing of intelligence, and the ability to be able to present the most critical intelligence [6:28] to the president and to leaders so that they can defend our national security. This is a threat [6:35] to our national security, both withholding FISA and appointing this individual to be head of DNI. [6:42] The president also told The Wall Street Journal that he wants Pulte to cut staff at the national [6:48] intelligence office. He said, quote, I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people [6:53] there that shouldn't be there. Frankly, it might be good for him, he's referring to Pulte, to shake it [6:59] up before people come. He can do a lot of hard work and we wouldn't have to saddle somebody that goes [7:06] in. So he's essentially saying that because he's acting DNI, he'll have more power here. Does that [7:12] concern you? Yeah, it's all baloney. You can't appoint somebody who has absolutely no intelligence [7:22] experience. Now, this guy has worked in housing most of his life. He's basically a political hack [7:30] for the president. And now you're going to appoint him as head of our national intelligence [7:38] to coordinate intelligence, to make sure that we're acquiring the best intelligence and providing [7:46] that intelligence to policymakers. This guy is not up to that job. And so, yeah, I mean, [7:54] for all intents and purposes, what the president is doing here by virtue of that appointment is [8:00] basically shutting down the DNI in terms of its operation. And that's going to hurt our [8:07] intelligence capability. It's also going to hurt our national security. It's a very stark [8:12] assessment. Secretary Leon Panetta, thank you so much for your time today. Good to be with you.