Former intelligence officials discuss the state of affairs at Harvard
Intelligence professionals assume great risk to collect valuable information and conduct complex operations around the world in order to protect national security and undergird U.S. foreign policy. The last thing they should worry about is how their work moves someone’s poll numbers. But in this era — when both 2016 presidential candidates think former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey tried to sabotage their campaigns, and the U.S. intelligence community’s boss, President Trump, has dismissed its conclusion that Russia interfered in the election, attacked the probe into his campaign’s ties to Russia led by another former FBI director, Robert Mueller, and called for a federal investigation of retired top officials in the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for allegedly “spying” on his campaign — even intelligence work, it seems, has become politicized. Former intelligence officers, lawmakers, national security analysts,...