CIA analyst resigns because of Trump’s ‘disturbing’ actions in office
Edward Price joined the Central Intelligence Agency over ten years ago and fully intended to make a lifetime career out of his time with the CIA. But now, he is resigning, and he says Donald Trump is to blame.
“Despite working proudly for Republican and Democratic presidents, I reluctantly concluded that I cannot in good faith serve this administration as an intelligence professional,” Price wrote in a resignation letter published by the Washington Post on Monday.
Prior to his resignation, Price was a senior director on the National Security Council, and he had worked under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.
“There was no greater reward than having my analysis presented to the president and seeing it shape events,” he wrote. “Intelligence informing policy — this is how the system is supposed to work.”
— Trump signed executive order without knowing exactly what it did —
But when Price saw Trump just casually throwing aside the importance of intelligence, he knew he couldn’t stay. “I watched in disbelief when, during the third presidential debate, Trump casually cast doubt on the high-confidence conclusion of our 17 intelligence agencies released that month, that Russia was behind the hacking and release of election-related emails,” Price wrote, adding, “Trump’s actions in office have been even more disturbing.”
“To be clear, my decision had nothing to do with politics, and I would have been proud to again work under a Republican administration open to intelligence analysis,” Price later wrote. “But this administration has flipped that dynamic on its head: The politicians are the ones tuning out the intelligence professionals.”
He noted that the current situation between Trump and the intelligence community could be fixed, so long as Trump was willing to listen to those who had been working in intelligence far longer than he had been in Washington.
“Until that happens,” Price wrote, “President Trump and his team are doing another disservice to these dedicated men and women and the nation they proudly, if quietly, serve.”