Ex-CIA Director John Brennan is upset about losing his security clearance because he used it as a credential to enhance his credibility as a consultant, John Sununu, President George W. Bush's former chief of staff, said Monday.
"By saying he is going to sue the government, he is implying and suggesting that he was getting a personal benefit that was taken away from him, Sununu, also a former governor of New Hampshire, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "This whole story of John Brennan having been hurt by the president taking away his security clearance is that Brennan was hurt perhaps financially."
Brennan, an NBC/MSNBC national security analyst, often implies he knows more than interviewers and the public about various issues, and "he implied that he was using what he had gained as a director of the CIA as the basis for his claims," said Sununu, echoing National Security Adviser John Bolton, who said this weekend said that Brennan had "politicized intelligence."
Sununu also rejected Brennan's argument that he is not speaking out for political reasons.
"He was political as a director of the CIA and he is political in speaking out now," said Sununu. "There is nobody who would imagine that a current CIA employee would be all over TV and doing what Brennan is doing...Brennan has tainted the waters. Now people will have to take a more serious look at being more definitive than that simple statement of acting as if you were still employed by the CIA."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.