Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy
Former analyst at the CIA (1966-1990) where he worked with and for Defense Secretary-designate Robert Gates; Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy and author of the forthcoming Failure of Intelligence the Decline and Fall of the CIA
The CIA Then and Now, and the Role of Dick Cheney Today, the CIA released 693 pages of reports about 25 years of illegal activities during the 1950's, 60's and 70's, a report nick-named " Family Jewels ." It tells of illegal wiretaps and domestic surveillance, assassination plots and human experimentation. CIA Director, General Michael Hayden, calls it, " a glimpse of a very different time and a very different Agency ." What are the differences -- and similarities -- between then and now, with Dick Cheney the President's "go-to guy" on intelligence?
Robert Gates Promises 'Fresh Eyes' at the Pentagon At his Senate confirmation hearing today to replace Donald Rumsfeld , former CIA Director Robert Gates was asked a crucial question by Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, whether America was winning the war in Iraq. Answering "no," he said there will be no easy answers if he's confirmed as Secretary of Defense . It's expected that Gates will be confirmed, but he's still controversial. Does he have the background to run the world's most sophisticated military establishment? Will he "speak truth to power," or tell the President what he wants to hear?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?