Leon Panetta, who was Director of the US spy agency from 2009 to 2011, is alarmed by the President’s declaration that intelligence he received on Iran’s nuclear programme – shortly before he ordered risky strikes on the country – was “wrong”.
In an interview with The i Paper, Panetta said that Trump’s attitude sets a worrying trend for the White House’s decision-making process over any future armed interventions.
Panetta said: “I don’t think there’s any alternative but to understand how dangerous a world we live in right now.
Leon Panetta served as CIA chief for two years under Barack Obama (Photo: Alex Wong/ Getty)
Controversy over how the White House uses intelligence reports to make vital decisions has grown after the latest dismissive comments from Trump and his team.
Speaking from his home in California, Panetta said: “There’s no question that when the US President makes a statement that our intelligence assessments are wrong and doesn’t believe our own intelligence, that creates a very dangerous moment.
“But secondly, it also creates a real problem for the President, because if he rejects the intelligence he’s receiving, then what will be the basis for the decisions that he makes in the future, and that is a very scary prospect.”
Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Fordo was among the three nuclear sites hit by US bombers at the weekend (Photo: Planet Labs PBC/AFP)
The row originally broke out after Trump publicly slapped down guidance from his own director of national security, Tulsi Gabbard, who told Congress in March that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.” Serving security officials insist this has remained true all along.
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However, Panetta said that once Trump had asserted that Iran was aiming to manufacture a bomb, the White House “had to stand by its word” and was left with “no alternative” but to attack.
Donald Trump said an intelligence briefing on Iran by Tulsi Gabbard was ‘wrong’ (Photo: Andrew Harnik /Getty)
Concerns over Trump’s Nato commitment
As a former member of Barack Obama’s cabinet – serving as Defence Secretary for Trump’s arch rival – Panetta is no political friend of Trump’s.
Panetta praised Sir Keir Starmer’s cautious approach to the Israel-Iran conflict. “The most important thing the Prime Minister can do is to try to be a force for trying to resolve this conflict in a peaceful way,” he said.
During Barack Obama’s first administration, Leon Panetta met many global leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu, Xi Jinping and David Cameron (Photos: Getty Images)With the summit of Nato leaders now underway in the Netherlands, Panetta said that members “have to assume an America that is going to continue to be unpredictable when it comes to the Nato alliance.”
The White House and the CIA were approached for comment.
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