The Georgetown University professor, who spent 12 years as a CIA intelligence analyst, says diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and the politicization of the intelligence community as a whole are “significant” issues and that warned that it is confident that other agencies will continue to do so. Interfering with the 2024 election, similar to the 2020 operation.
“My guess is that we will see a re-emergence of the proverbial deep state within the intelligence community. Perhaps Republican candidates will once again be seen as a threat to the internal policies that many in the intelligence community prefer.” said Dr. John Gentry, author of the new book. “Neutralizing the CIA: Why U.S. Intelligence vs. Trump Has Long-Term Consequences.” fox news digital.
Within days of a shocking New York Post article detailing the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop in the run-up to the 2020 election, 51 former intelligence officials have discredited the laptop. I signed a letter saying this laptop “has all the classics.” This is a sign of Russian information operations. ”
The CIA approved the release of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop correspondence, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital in 2023.
Gentry told Fox News Digital that downplaying Hunter Biden's laptop was “obviously political” and that one high-ranking source “explicitly intended to help the Biden campaign.” He said he was told “in no uncertain terms” that it had been done.
He said there have already been signs in recent weeks that current and former members of the intelligence community will be active in 2024.
“I have long believed that it was likely that we would once again see former intelligence officials politically active against President Trump and next year's Republican presidential candidates. I expected the leaks to resume. ,” Gentry said. “A little earlier than expected, the activities of the 'former' people have already resumed.''
Gentry pointed to recent articles Mark Polymeropoulos, the CIA official who retired in 2019 and co-directed Hunter Biden's laptop Open Letter, and Asha Rangappa, a former FBI official who warned of the dangers of Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail. This is a comment from Mr.
“Asha Rangappa used to work for the FBI and was openly anti-Trump, but as a relatively young former congressman, she didn't get as much attention as many,” Gentry said. “I think it's worth keeping a close eye on these people. Many have undermined their own credibility through acts such as the 'Laptop 51' letter. ”
Gentry said a major issue over the past few decades has been the introduction of DEI policies in major intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which have shifted focus from day-to-day operations to more “woke” political agendas.
“This was a half-century-old effort to bring more women and minorities into the intelligence community,” Gentry said. “This was done in the name of affirmative action. It gradually became a policy throughout the Clinton administration. But President Obama's efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce The signing of an executive order aimed at this may or may not have been a major step forward, depending on your point of view.“
Gentry told Fox News Digital that while discussions about personal politics didn't occur during his time at the CIA, intelligence officials during the Obama administration said standards had all but “disappeared” and political activity had become “common.” said, he said.
Gentry explains that two of the main drivers of the more politically active intelligence community were former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Gentry said that both Brennan and Clapper “…are very strong supporters of President Obama’s desire to transform the federal workforce, so they have begun to accelerate this process and implement policies such as certain recruiting efforts.” “We've done a lot of things from a behavioral standpoint.” For example, they encouraged employees to be more concerned about diversity and inclusion issues and, in Brennan's case, politically active. ”
Gentry told FOX News Digital there is no question that politicization within DEI and intelligence agencies is having a negative impact on rank-and-file worker morale.
“There are a lot of people who are unhappy about this because it politicizes the workforce and divides the workforce into those who believe in DEI policies and those who don’t,” Gentry said. he said.
“And even during the Obama years, there were people in the heads of analysis who started talking about 'soft totalitarianism.' That was a direct result of Brennan's top-down, politically-driven policies. etc. Well, this has a lot of implications in terms of performance and reliability.”
Gentry hopes his book will help readers “understand that there are significant political issues within government agencies,” and that former members of the intelligence community have criticized Trump in 2020. “Nobody was criticized,” he said, realizing how effective they had been in causing damage to the United States.
“When you put all of this together, I'm pretty confident that we're going to see a resurgence of activism,” Gentry said.
CIA Director William Burns addressed the issue of politicization within the intelligence community in a speech at the Aspen Security Forum in July.
“My duty, and President Biden reminds me of this often, is to directly provide the best information we can gather and analyze, even if it is inconvenient for policymakers. That's because I know when it's not convenient when someone on the other side of the table says that a big new idea is actually not that big, not that new, not that effective. I spent a lot of time on it,” Burns said.
“Our job is to be upfront about it, whether it's downtown, the White House, whether it's welcome in other parts of the executive branch. It's not an easy role, but… It's a very important role. It's something I take very seriously. I know Secretary Haines does it, and so do others throughout the U.S. intelligence community. It is something that our police officers are committed to providing.”
