Former Top Spy David Cohen Warns Trump Not To ‘Politicize’ Iran Intelligence
WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Cohen, the former CIA deputy director, said President Trump’s tasking a team whose goal is to justify a pullout from the Iran deal posed a “grave danger” to the U.S. ability to face international threats.
“The president’s reported demand for intelligence to support his policy preference to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal risks politicizing intelligence analysis, with potentially grave consequences not only for national security decision-making but also for our ability to address a wide range of international threats,” Cohen, who left the CIA no. 2 position in January, said Friday in a Washington Post Op-Ed.
Trump last month recertified Iran’s adherence to the 2015 deal brokered by President Barack Obama, which trades sanctions relief for a rollback in Iran’s nuclear activities. But he did so reluctantly, at the behest of his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster; his defense secretary, James Mattis; and his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. They argued that decertification would alienate U.S. allies because Iran is indeed complying with the deal’s strictures.
However, within days of giving the go-ahead to recertify, Trump reportedly tasked a separate team, led by his top strategic adviser, Steve Bannon, to come up with a reason to decertify Iran the next time the 90-day assessment rolls around, in October. Trump believes Iran is not abiding by the “spirit” of the deal because of its continued missile testing and its military adventurism and backing for terrorism – areas not covered by the deal.
Cohen said in his Op-Ed that the ultimately successful fight to bring other nations onto the Iran sanctions regime was hampered by the reputational blow U.S. intelligence took after the Iraq war when it was revealed that intelligence assessments that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — a key pretext for that war — proved groundless.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!