Free Republic

David Petraeus will not be replacing Michael Flynn as Donald Trump's next national security adviser. Trump ousted Flynn on Monday in a controversy over the retired lieutenant general's contacts with Russia. Petraeus, a retired general and former CIA director, expressed concern about Trump's reluctance to grant the new adviser full discretion over policy and staffing. On Friday, Petraeus told the Munich Security Conference: 'Whoever it is that would agree to take that position certainly should do so with some very, very significant assurances that he or she would have authorities over the personnel of the organization. 'That there would be...

Hugh Hewitt has been all over this idea lately.(TWEETS-AT-LINK) Bolton was a candidate for Secretary of State during the transition period, then a candidate to be a key undersecretary at the Department under Rex Tillerson, and then more recently … nada. His name hadn’t been mentioned in connection lately with any major staffing positions, which is odd given that Trump reportedly came to admire him from his appearances on Fox News. (Also a key qualification for KT McFarland in landing her job as deputy NSA, apparently.) Bolton had two big problems in landing a job at State. One: Rex Tillerson...

CIA's Haq cover-up is part of a pattern November 1, 2001BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Unnamed CIA officials flat out lied when they told reporters that the first they had heard from Abdul Haq was his futile plea to be saved from the Taliban fighters who surrounded him and then murdered him last Friday. That fits the pattern of deceit, arrogance and ignorance that describes the U.S. role in the murder of the legendary Afghan commander. Actually, the Central Intelligence Agency had been in contact with Haq's representatives since last February. It was not a congenial liaison. The CIA's reaction ...