OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who served in the Trump administration, is warning that Joe Biden is now America’s “greatest threat.”
During an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin, Ratcliffe spoke about Biden’s disastrous handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the chaos that has ensued in the aftermath.
“So my question to you is, what has Joe Biden done to America’s national security?” host Mark Levin asked.
“Well, Mark, to your point, first on Afghanistan, I hope that it’s just something that has an impact for decades, I hope it’s not centuries. It’s the most profound loss for the United States certainly in our lifetime,” Ratcliffe began.
“But one of my concerns there, and this goes to your larger question about what has Joe Biden done to our national security, he has very clearly harmed it, but in so many respects beyond Afghanistan. But this most recent, most painful, most colossal, epic failure in Afghanistan has literally breathed life into the radical Islamic terrorist movement not just in Afghanistan but around the world. We won’t know the consequences of how bad they really are for a long, long time to come, who he has inspired, and what groups morph out of what they see as a victory of epic proportions over the great Satan, the United States,” Ratcliffe added.
“So, that is just part of it. But to your larger question, Mark, you know, I wrote an article as the Director of National Intelligence saying that China was our number one national security threat, I did that as I was walking out the door based on the fact that I’m the person who saw more intelligence than anyone else in the country over the last year and China very much is that existential threat to our country,” he said.
“But if I had to write that op-ed today, I would tell you that I think the greatest national security threat, at least in the short-term, is Joe Biden and our national security apparatus. And the reason I say that I am not trying to be glib or hyperbolic, but Mark, they have literally gotten everything wrong for 8 straight months with respect to China, Russia, Iran, and throughout the Middle East, now including Afghanistan, it goes on and on,” he continued.
“Literally, they are batting zero, they’re striking out at every turn, and it’s having a profound, grave impact on our national security and our national security posture. And you know, I hope that people don’t misunderstand or question the United States’ resolve in the long-term, but I think that everyone has good reason to question the United States’ resolve in the short-term,” Ratcliffe argued.
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“What — when we look at what’s transpired in the last 8 months under this administration, and I can walk you around the globe and see how our national security posture is weaker with respect to China, is weaker with respect to Russia, is weaker with respect to Iran, is weaker with respect to radical Islamic terrorists and so on, it is, you know — it is, again, it is hard to put it in terms, and I think what is most troubling for me, Mark, again, I go back to always looking at what the intelligence, what I saw in the position, and one of the challenges here that we’re facing for next 3 years is a president who is not listening to the intelligence,” Ratcliffe said.
“Our intelligence was crystal-clear about what would happen in Afghanistan if we withdrew without conditions-based terms that we had negotiated, and when Biden abandoned that plan, it went exactly to what we said would happen. And that is, unfortunately, a trend that has continued, where this administration and this national security apparatus keeps making bad decisions, keeps ignoring the actual intelligence that we have, and honestly, nothing concerns me more right now,” he concluded.
