An ex-CIA spy says the Obama administration has done a “lousy” strategy to combat global terrorism because its “waging the war they want to fight but not the one that will lead to success.”
Henry “Hank” Crumpton, who joined the CIA in 1981 and served as deputy director of the CIA Counterterrorism Center from 1999 to 2001, said part of the president’s problem is that his approach to dealing with terror threats is “very safe politically,” The Hill reported Tuesday. “They want to control everything in Washington.”
Mr. Crumpton told the newspaper that a “watershed moment” for the Obama administration came when the “red line” he established for Syrian President Bashar Assad regarding chemical weapons was crossed and U.S. airstrikes did not follow.
“I had several foreign friends, senior officials in allied governments, just express first disbelief then disgust. Their reaction to that was, was really I think enduring. That hasn’t gone away,” Mr. Crumpton said, The Hill reported.
The ex-CIA spy said that if the White House wants a successful model for dealing with terror threats, then it will adopt a strategy that employs a strong intelligence presence on the ground.
“It really is a question of deep intelligence and empathy,” he said, the newspaper reported. “When 9/11 happened, we had 100 clandestine sources throughout Afghanistan. We had built those networks. Now, in comparison, we had two predator drones in the air in Benghazi.”
SEE ALSO: James Mattis: U.S. suffering ‘strategic atrophy’ that says ‘we’re pulling back’ to allies
The White House has repeated defended its counterterrorism strategy against its critics. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on May 19 that the Obama administration’s handling of Islamic State has been an “overall” success.
“That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been areas of setback as we saw in Ramadi,” Mr. Earnest said, referring to the takeover of the Iraqi city May 17 by the Islamic State terror group.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.