INTELLIGENCE/MILITARY/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Retired Adm. William McRaven, the man who oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, issued a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan on Thursday [8-16-18], defending the former spy chief as ‘one of the finest public servants I have ever known.’ In an op-ed published by the Washington Post, McRaven, a former Navy SEAL who led US Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014, not only called Brennan ‘a man of unparalleled integrity,’ but volunteered to have his own security clearance revoked in an act of solidarity…His comments come just one day after Trump announced his decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance, marking an unprecedented use of a president’s authority over the classification system to strike back at one of his prominent critics…McRaven, who resigned as chancellor of the University of Texas in Austin earlier this year, is widely respected among the tens of thousands of active and retired special operators and his message will likely resonate within that community.”
–Zachary Cohen, “Architect of bin Laden raid issues stunning rebuke of Trump,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 16, 2018 5:36 pm