From #heatherCoxRichardson #leonpanetta

The president is under enormous pressure, as his war with Iran sparked Iranian officials to close the Strait of Hormuz.... This outcome was expected by previous presidents, but Trump seemed to think he could avoid it and now is stuck without an easy solution. As former defense secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta told David Smith of The Guardian, “[I]f there was an escape here for Trump, it would be to declare victory and it’s over and we’ve been able to be successful in all of our military targets. The problem is he can declare victory all he wants but, if he doesn’t get the ceasefire, he’s got nothing. And he’s not going to get a ceasefire as long as Iran is holding the gun of the strait of Hormuz against his head.”

“He tends to be naive about how things can happen,” Panetta told Smith. “If he says it and keeps saying it, there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.”

How 'don't ask, don't tell' came to be, what it did, and how it ended

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/history/dont-ask-dont-tell-history

Leon Panetta on the Trump Administration’s Venezuelan Boat Strikes

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/leon-panetta-on-the-trump-administrations-venezuelan-boat-strikes

5 fmr #defense secretaries on Thurs denounced #Trump’s firing last week of the #JointChiefs chair & several other snr #military ofcls, urging #Congress to hold hearings & declaring they have concluded the officers were “fired for purely partisan reasons.”

The extraordinary public appeal was signed by #LloydAustin, #JimMattis, #ChuckHagel, #LeonPanetta & #WilliamPerry — who served in Republican & Democratic admins dating back to the 1990s.

#USpol #law #NationalSecurity
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/five-former-us-defense-secretaries-assail-trumps-military-firings-reckless-2025-02-28/

Trump moves to revoke clearances for officials who signed Hunter Biden letter

President Trump took executive action Monday to start revoking the security clearances of his former national security adviser, John Bolton, and dozens of intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 claiming emails found on a laptop owned by Hunter Biden bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Mr. Trump said in his order that the signers of the letter “willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions.”

The letter at issue was signed by 51 former intelligence officials and released in October 2020.

Among those who signed the letter are former Defense Secretary #LeonPanetta, former Director of National Intelligence #JamesClapper, former #CIA and #NSA Director #MichaelHayden and former CIA Director #JohnBrennan.

CBS News / https://archive.md/NmFfc #spooks #liars #uspol

#UsNews Via Ken Klippenstein [video clip in link]:
Former CIA Director #LeonPanetta calls Israel's explosive pager operation "terrorism" in an interview with #CBSToday:

"I don't think there's any question it's a form of #terrorism."

"When you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question: what the hell is next?"

"The forces of #war are largely in control right now of what's going on."
https://x.com/kenklippenstein/status/1838001378121163053?t=JItJHexWXKWWh5cSL_ihFw&s=19