Michael Morrell was the Deputy Director of the CIA, and served as Acting Director. His career spanned 6 Presidents, from Carter and Reagan to Obama, 3 of each party. In this op ed in todays’ New York Times (whose title I have borrowed), he writes
I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Not registered with a party (which applies to all of us in Virginia), he has voted for candidates of both parties during the past 40 years, and has never before publicly expressed his choice for President.
No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.
Morrell was not a political appointee, but rose through the ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency.
He states two clear reasons that caused him to make this public statement:
First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.
Morrell not only makes those assertions, he forcefully presents the arguments to to support them.
He writes from working closely with Mrs. Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State, often in the Situation Room.
In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.
At this point,there is probably enough on the public record that many people might nod their heads, not needing further argument. But Morrell supplies it. He describes her approach, including her ability to balance what can be described as the two arms of soft power and hard power. Going beyond that he notes
I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, “Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
Morrell then pivots to Trump:
In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.
Continuing with describing the characteristics that many of us know all too well, including his self-aggrandizement and his unwillingness to listen to others (remember, this is a guy who when asked who he turned to for advise on such matters talked about having a very good mind as a rationalization of being his primary adviser).
Which leads him to assert:
The dangers that flow from Mr. Trump’s character are not just risks that would emerge if he became president. It is already damaging our national security.
Morrell then covers the issue of Vladimir Putin, going through all the recent problematic actions and statements, reminds us that Putin was a trained intelligence agent, and concludes this section by noting
In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.
As for the hostility Trump has displayed towards Muslims, he informs us that the person who in his capacity as head of the Counterterrorism Center for almost a decade is a Muslim, one of many who participate in keeping us safe. He says of this unnamed (for security reasons) man that he
is most responsible for keeping America safe since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Which leads to Michael Morrell’s concluding statement, which consists of four sentences. Here they are together:
My training as an intelligence officer taught me to call it as I see it. This is what I did for the C.I.A. This is what I am doing now. Our nation will be much safer with Hillary Clinton as president.
Morrell joins other national security experts who held political appointments who have rejected the candidacy of Mr. Trump and announced support for Hillary Clinton, for example, Richard Armitage, #2 under Colin Powell in the Presidency of George W. Bush, and Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser to President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977 and President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.
Morrell is highly respected among national security experts, from the intelligence community through the military and even many from the diplomatic service who know him and/or his work.
His is not a name well-known among the general public. The average American will not read this op -ed, as it appears in a publication that few read on a regular basis. But those who care may well encounter it, or at least hear about it.
For me what is key is that Morrell has decided, as an intelligence professional, to leave his life-long practice of not disclosing his presidential choice precisely because in his fulfilling his professional responsibilities at the CIA he was responsible for ensuring accurate intelligence information to whomever occupied the Oval Office, precisely because Donald Trump represents a grave danger to the country he served for decades.
Make of it what you will.