The World Relies on US Counterintelligence

“Everything that is done [in the NSA] is subject to layers and layers of review by lawyers, by courts, and by the Congress. Those checks and balances exist even though they are not within the public purview at all times.”

Michelle Van Cleave, former National Counterintelligence Executive under President George W. Bush, defended the widely criticized National Security Agency on Monday’s Secure Freedom Radio, and detailed why Edward Snowden’s leaks have been so damaging.

She justified the large scale of American counterintelligence operations by explaining that the system is responsible for not only the safety of American citizens, but also that of people in peril around the world.

“Nothing happens across this globe where people in danger don’t turn to the United States and say ‘can you help us?’” said Van Cleave. “While we cannot reply to every danger that exists, to the extent that we can see things and we can pass information to those who are in harm’s way, we have taken that on very seriously.”

She further explained that this heavy burden is “why we have a much larger intelligence footprint, if you will, than most any other country in the world, and why its loss can be so devastating.”

Speaking specifically about the information revealed in the leaks, Van Cleave said that due to the uncertainty surrounding what Snowden has and will release, the security problems are not going away anytime soon.

“Our enemies have induced a sense of ‘unknowing’ in us. We don’t know how badly we may be exposed.”

While the exposure of national secrets to America’s enemies is damaging in and of itself, Van Cleave further expounded that the Snowden leaks have had a second, devastating impact, just as Snowden intended.

“The other part of the damage here that is so incredibly troubling is the extent to which the American public have been misled or confused… into doubting our own intelligence capabilities and the people who are responsible for carrying out those intelligence activities,” she said.

Van Cleave acknowledged that it is reasonable for the American public to be uncomfortable knowing that the government is keeping secrets, particularly if those secrets may be about them.

“It’s one of the most difficult things within an open republic: to be able to make decisions about the things which must by their nature be kept secret in order to succeed.”

“I wish that it were possible for the American public to know all of the things that US intelligence does because I think that they would be so proud and so grateful at some of the amazing accomplishments that have taken place,” Van Cleave concluded.