Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. /AP
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 2014, has detailed the backstory of his departure from the DIA.
Flynn, who is said to be on Donald Trump’s short list as a potential running mate, is author of the new book “The Field of Fight” in which he describes why he believes the U.S. is not getting any closer to winning the war on terrorism.
“Two years ago, I was called into a meeting with the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and the director of national intelligence, and after some ‘niceties,’ I was told by the USDI that I was being let go from DIA. It was definitely an uncomfortable moment (I suspect more for them than me).
I asked the DNI (Gen. James Clapper) if my leadership of the agency was in question and he said it was not; had it been, he said, they would have relieved me on the spot.
I knew then it had more to do with the stand I took on radical Islamism and the expansion of Al Qaida and its associated movements. I felt the intel system was way too politicized, especially in the Defense Department. After being fired, I left the meeting thinking, ‘Here we are in the middle of a war, I had a significant amount of combat experience (nearly five years) against this determined enemy on the battlefield and served at senior levels, and here it was, the bureaucracy was letting me go.’ Amazing.
At the time, I was working very hard to change the culture of DIA from one overly focused on Washington, DC, to a culture that focused on our forward-based war fighters and commanders. It was not an easy shift, but it was necessary and exactly the reason I was put into the job in the first place.
In the end, I was pissed but knew that I had maintained my integrity and was determined in the few months I had left to continue the changes I was instituting and to keep beating the drum about the vicious enemy we were facing (still are).
I would not change a lick how I operate. Our country has too much at stake.
We’re in a global war, facing an enemy alliance that runs from Pyongyang, North Korea, to Havana, Cuba, and Caracas, Venezuela. Along the way, the alliance picks up radical Muslim countries and organizations such as Iran, Al Qaida, the Taliban and Islamic State.
That’s a formidable coalition, and nobody should be shocked to discover that we are losing the war.
…
Just as the Muslim world has failed, so the secular tyrants have wrecked their own countries. They hate us in part because they know their own peoples would prefer to live as we do. They hope to destroy us before they have to face the consequences of their many failures.
Remember that Machiavelli insisted that tyranny is the most unstable form of government.
It infuriates me when our president bans criticism of our enemies, and I am certain that we cannot win this war unless we are free to call our enemies by their proper names: radical jihadis, failed tyrants, and so forth.
With good leadership, we should win. But we desperately need good leaders to reverse our enemies’ successes.”
Full article: Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn: Military fired me for calling our enemies ‘radical jihadis’ (World Tribune)
Global Geopolitics 