Hayden: WH-Intel Community Relationship In Danger of Being 'Permanently Broken'

The relationship between the White House and U.S. intelligence community is “dangerously close to being permanently broken,” former director of the National Security Agency and CIA retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden said Sunday.

In remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hayden decried the “whole tone, tenor and behavior of the administration.”

Asked if President Donald Trump’s attacks on the intelligence community, including the revocation of the security clearance of ex-CIA chief John Brennan, has brought the relationship to the breaking point, Hayden was grim.

“It's dangerously close to being permanently broken, it is badly injured right now,” he said.

“If we're back in our old agencies, we're trying to say to our workforce: 'We have nothing to do with what John Brennan says on TV and we have nothing to do with what the president has done in response. We've got our basic lane, we've got to be blocking and tackling.'"

"But that has to be harder and harder each day as the administration takes these kinds of actions.”

“And frankly, although, John's situation is a proximate cause for all of us signing letters and protesting, I think it's kind of one additional straw that's breaking the camel's back,” he added.

For his own part, Hayden said he wouldn’t mind if his clearance was also yanked.

"If [Trump's] not revoking my clearance gave the impression that I somehow moved my commentary to a direction more acceptable to the White House, I would find that very disappointing and frankly unacceptable.”

• Ex-CIA Dir. Hayden: 'Sense of Embarrassment' in Clearance Flap
• Hayden: Yanking Security Clearance Won't Change What I Think, Say or Write