Rep. Jim Himes, while refusing direct comment on a contested CNN report claiming that the CIA pulled a U.S. asset from Moscow two years ago, complained Tuesday that President Donald Trump is often "loose" with classified information, which is a "direct assault on our security."
"I think two weeks ago, he tweeted out a satellite photograph of a destroyed Iranian missile on its launch pad," the Connecticut Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "If you looked at that picture, you saw that it had a classification marker that had been blacked out...when you put up a satellite photograph on Twitter, people who are expert at these things in places like Russia, and China and elsewhere can see our capabilities and they can counter those capabilities."
Himes said he spends time almost every day with one or another member of the intelligence community, who are "consummate professionals" who are careful about staying out of politics, but from the conversations they've had in less formal settings, there is "worry."
"How could there not be?" he said. "We need to recruit sources. We need to go into very dangerous places and say hey, if you help us we will protect you. If you give us secrets, we will protect you. If we don't do that, if we can't keep those secrets. it makes it very hard to recruit those sources that keep us safe."
In addition, recruits are needed for the CIA, NSA, and FBI, said Himes, and when Trump is "constantly attacking or weakening" the agencies' work, it makes it difficult to bring in new people, said Himes.
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.
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