OPINION:
Revolutionary War philosopher and pamphleteer Thomas Paine once wrote that “the right to vote is the right upon which all other rights depend.” Next Tuesday, when we elect the 47th president of the United States, is a celebration of our democratic process, the foundation of what makes our country a “shining city upon a hill.”
Over the course of my CIA career, there were seven presidential elections, four of which resulted in a transfer of power from one party to the other. Each time, I witnessed firsthand — sometimes at CIA headquarters and other times while stationed overseas — how the Intelligence community quietly helped to ensure the smooth transition from one administration to another.
The president-elect will have a handpicked team of political appointees to advise on and execute critical policy decisions. But that team will rely on our exceptional national security professionals, who take an oath not to a person or a party but to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Intelligence officers exercise their civic duty by voting. Regardless of which party holds the executive branch, they faithfully carry out their mission, including serving tours of duty in combat zones under the direction of presidents whom they may or may not have preferred. That’s because the intelligence community’s sacred mission is clear: Detect and preempt threats to our nation before any harm is caused to our citizens.
When I served at the CIA, we measured our success by the spies we recruited and the secrets we stole from our adversaries. We never regretted not having a say in tough policy decisions.
Our role was to present the analysis that would best inform the decisions of our elected leaders. We all understand that politicians start with a worldview and clearly defined ideas about solving the nation’s problems.
Professional intelligence officers, however, ruthlessly avoid predisposed bias, which can warp the interpretation of events. Intelligence analysis is the reverse — an inductive process whereby analytical conclusions are reached based on facts and source information.
In the late 19th century, Congress voted to reduce the number of political appointees in the federal government. As a result, most federal employees are not loyalists focused first and foremost on a party’s or a president’s political agenda, but rather a highly skilled technocracy hired and promoted based on merit.
At the CIA, only the director and the general counsel are political appointees requiring Senate confirmation. From their first day on the job, CIA officers are taught to tell their bosses — all the way up to the president — what they need to know, especially when it is not what they want to hear.
I’ll never forget the countless hours I testified in closed session on Capitol Hill, where on some days Democrats and at other times Republicans reacted with consternation to the analytical conclusions I presented. But I could put my head to the pillow at night, knowing that I had done my best to be faithful to the truth.
Regarding national security threats, the truth is of preeminent importance.
The best CIA directors under whom I served created an environment that nurtured intellectual integrity and where subordinates were encouraged to present raw intelligence and analysis, which challenged the assumptions of not only the director but the White House as well. For CIA analysts and intelligence collectors, that means striving for a 360-degree perspective on the most complex challenges.
The stakes today could not be higher.
The next president will face myriad complex threats to our national security. Russia’s war on Ukraine threatens the balance of power in Europe, while Israel is fighting a multifront war against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Intelligence collection on nuclear proliferation, transnational terrorism and adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea has never been more challenging or consequential.
CIA officers are motivated by a common desire to ensure that our enemies do not define the world in which our children and future generations will live.
The agency relentlessly takes the fight to our nation’s enemies, especially those totalitarian dictatorships teeming with bootlicking sycophants, elevated to positions of power for their blind loyalty rather than their competence.
And therein lies the powerful comparative advantage of our extraordinary democracy: We have a cadre of dedicated and selfless intelligence professionals, dedicated patriots who do not change parties each time a new party is in charge of the executive branch but instead gain experience over time as experts in their craft.
After all the votes have been counted, our next leaders can faithfully rely on them to tell the truth, as unpleasant as it might sometimes be.
• Daniel N. Hoffman is a retired clandestine services officer and former chief of station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of government service included high-level overseas and domestic positions at the CIA. He has been a Fox News contributor since May 2018.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.