Michael Flynn

U.S. Army Lieutenant General (ret.) Michael Flynn was the first national security adviser in the Donald Trumpadministration.[1]Prior to that, he had a storied military career, culminating in his posting as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 2012 to 2014.[2]Previously, Flynn was a senior intelligence officer for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the Joint Staff, and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).[3]After being relieved from his job at the DIA by President Barack Obama, Flynn became a far-right pundit, spreading conspiracy theories and targeting Muslims.

Brief Term As Trump’s National Security Adviser

In February 2017, after only a few weeks as Trump’s national security adviser, Flynn was fired after reports emerged that he had discussed Obama administration sanctions with the Russian ambassador and allegedly lied about those conversations with other Trump officials. Subsequently, numerous additional allegations emerged concerning possible connections between Flynn’s ties with Turkey and Russia and U.S. policy-making in the Trump campaign. Flynn was eventually subpoenaed to testify before Congress, an obligation he dodged until he reached a plea deal and the subpoena was dropped.

The reported proximate cause of Flynn’s firing was that he had “misled” Trump and Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with Russian diplomats about sanctions that the Obama administration had levelled against Russia. But Flynn was mired in scandal even before he took up his position, and became a lightning rod, drawing scrutiny on the entire Trump campaign and early administration.[4]

Mere days after Trump’s inauguration acting Attorney General Sally Yates met with White House counsel Don McGahn to warn him the Justice Department had evidence, via the FBI surveillance, that statements Pence was making publicly—that Flynn’s conversations with Russian diplomats had nothing to do with sanctions—were false. Four days later, Yates was fired.[5]

In November 2017 Flynn agreed to a plea deal in exchange for his cooperation with the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 led by Robert Mueller.[6]Flynn pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators about his conversations with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

According to a New York Times report, “Mr. Flynn’s discussions with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, were part of a coordinated effort by Mr. Trump’s aides to create foreign policy before they were in power, documents released as part of Mr. Flynn’s plea agreement show. Their efforts undermined the existing policy of President Barack Obama and flouted a warning from a senior Obama administration official to stop meddling in foreign affairs before the inauguration.”[7]

Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed several times, the last coming in July 2018. As of that date, it remained unclear what substantive help Flynn was giving the ongoing investigation.[8]

Flynn’s appointment as national security adviser came despite increasing public scrutiny of his penchant for spreading false news stories on Twitter, and the concerns shared by the U.S. intelligence community with the Trump team that Flynn could be manipulated by Russia. A December 2016 report by Politico stated that Flynn used social media to boost at least 16 false news items during the second half of 2016.[9]“Flynn used Twitter to spread accusations that Hillary Clinton was involved with child sex trafficking, ‘secretly waged war‘ on the Catholic Church,[10]and that Barack Obama is a ‘jihadi‘ who ‘laundered’ money for Muslim terrorists.”[11]

Regarding Russia, although Flynn at times warned about Moscow’s past behavior, while on the Trump team he stuck closely to Trump’s favorable attitude toward Russia, dismissing concerns over its invasion of Ukraine, bombing in Syria, and interference in U.S. elections.

Even before the bombshell February 2017 leaks that led to the reports about Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador, the retired lieutenant general had been tied to reports related to Russian hacking of the U.S. elections. These reports represented “an especially awkward development for Mr. Flynn by indirectly casting a harsh spotlight on his relationship” with the RT Russian English-language news organization, characterized by intelligence agencies as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.”[12]

Extreme Positions

Flynn has long championed highly aggressive Middle East policies, particularly with respect to Iran. He was a vociferous opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, claiming it would lead to war, has pushed for “regime change” in Tehran, and has tweeted that “fear of Muslims is RATIONAL.”[13]

Flynn has called for withdrawing U.S. support for the Israel-Palestinian peace process, ending decades of U.S. efforts to resolve the conflict. At a 2014 event at the Sheldon Adelson-backed Endowment for Middle East Truth, Flynn said, “I don’t think there’s gonna be peace between Israel and Palestine.”[14]He added: “So let’s be honest about this and not have another big name going in there and getting in the middle of the two countries and try to figure this out while people that are coming from one side of that line with daggers are putting knives into women and children in Israel.”[15]

In mid-2016, Flynn—along with prominent neoconservative pundit and conspiracy theorist, Michael Ledeen—co-authored a fear-mongering book about an alleged alliance between “jihadists” and former Cold War foes who are “united in their hatred of the democratic West.” The book, called The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War against Radical Islam and Its Allies, argues that the United States must engage in a multi-generational war against this “formidable” alliance, which may require sending in troops to fight battles across the globe “similar to the effort during World War II or the Cold War.”[16]

Flynn and Ledeen write: “If, as PC apologists tell us, there is no objective basis for members of one culture to criticize another, then it is very hard to see…the existence of an international alliance of evil countries and movements that is working to destroy us. Yet, the alliance exists, and we’ve already dithered for many years. The war is on. We face a working coalition that extends from North Korea and China to Russia, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. We are under attack, not only from nation-states directly, but also from al Qaeda, Hezbollah, ISIS, and countless other terrorist groups. Suffice to say, the same sort of cooperation binds together jihadis, Communists, and garden-variety tyrants.”[17]

Reviews of the book were scathing, including by the Washington Post’s Carlos Lozada and Jim Lobe of the Inter Press Service.[18]Lozada observed, “[F]ormer military colleagues wonder how a respected intelligence officer such as Flynn morphed so quickly into a rabid and influential partisan. The Field of Fightreflects these sides of him, oscillating between straightforward analysis and vague, impassioned diatribes, untroubled by contradictions or evolutions.”[19]

Commented Lobe, “Just as Flynn may have Trump’s ear, Ledeen, a conspiracy-monger of the first order—in 2003, for example, he argued that France and Germany had ‘struck a deal with radical Islam and with radical Arabs‘ in order to defeat U.S. hegemony[20]—may have Flynn’s. This is a truly terrifying thought.”[21]

Even ideologically hawkish writers like Eli Lakeexcoriated the book. In his review, Lake wrote: “But all of this raises questions about the central theme of Field of Fight, that countries like Russia are in an alliance at all with radical Islam. If the Russians have fought ineffectively against jihadis, are we also to believe they are in an alliance with them? When I spoke with Flynn over the weekend, he said why he chose to call it an alliance: ‘It was a simpler way to explain the relationships.’”[22]

Hatred of Islam

Flynn holds a strong animosity for Islam, which he calls a “vicious cancer.”[23]In a video made just before his appearance at the 2016 GOP convention[24]—published by an assistant to the discredited conspiracy-mongerer Dinesh D’Souza—Flynn lashed out at the prophet Muhammad, blaming Islam for the Middle East’s failure to “become modern.” He then attacked Islam as a “quote-unquote religion,” saying “if they want to have their religion, their quote-unquote religion, and they want to have their security, and they want to pretend like they have women’s rights, and they pretend like everything’s fine. … I can tell you, it’s not.” Regarding the Quran, he said “honestly, we’re dealing with a text that is ancient and not helpful and a society that lives on that text and it can’t come to grips with modernity, with becoming modern.”[25]

Russian Relations

Despite his claims about Russia in the book he coauthored with Ledeen, Flynn has developed close relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, raising concerns among both Democrats and Republicans. In 2015, he gave a paid speech at a Kremlim-controlled RT television network party, after which he sat next to Putin during dinner.[26]When questioned whether the “optics” of the event could be problematic, he said that “he didn’t have any problem” and that he wanted to make sure “they” understand that “we have people in our country who aren’t going to apologize for who they are.” He then added that one of the things “he learned” at the event was that “Putin has no respect for the United States leadership. Not for the United States, but the leadership.”[27]

Becoming “Unhinged” at the 2016 GOP Convention

Flynn made headlines after his speech at the GOP convention, when he called Hillary Clinton “the enemy camp” and said that she was “somebody who will leave Americans behind on the battlefield.”

“As chants of ‘Lock her up!’ rose from the crowd, Flynn nodded with enthusiasm and said he was ‘so proud, standing up here, to be an American,’” wrote Dana Priest and Greg Miler. “The appearance was only the latest eyebrow-raising episode involving Flynn, 56, who was one of the most respected military intelligence officers of his generation but who has spurned the decorum traditionally expected of retired U.S. flag officers and become the only national security figure of his rank and experience to publicly align himself with Trump, the Republican nominee.”[28]

Flynn used the podium to rail against President Obama, saying that United States does “not need a weak, spineless president more worried about issuing apologies than protecting Americans.” He then made quixotic remarks comparing national security to the debate over transgender bathrooms, saying “war isn’t about political correctness” and “war is not about bathrooms.”[29]

Responding to these and other provocative actions by Flynn, two retired military officers told a reporter for Vox “in separate interviews that they considered Flynn to be ‘unhinged.’”[30]

Becoming Politicized

During his time at the DIA, Flynn reportedly “ruffled feathers in the organization by trying to reshape it for the wars of the 21st century, while also incurring the wrath of the Obama administration for making public statements that had not been fully vetted.”[31]He claims that his removal from the post was “political” and related to his efforts to warn about threats from Islam; however, numerous people with knowledge of the case say that various inappropriate actions and statements he made led to his removal. According to one report, “The decision to remove Flynn was ‘about turbulence and a destructive climate,’ said a former senior U.S. intelligence official. ‘I don’t think anybody in the administration was even aware of his views’ on radical Islam.”[32]

After leaving the DIA in August 2014, Flynn became involved in various business enterprises–including a drone business that could benefit from Trump border security plans[33]—and served as a go-to political pundit on conservative media outlets like Fox News, where he was in the “vanguard of those criticizing” the Obama administration for being weak.

Flynn’s foray into politicking spurred criticism, particularly because of his former position as a senior military officer. “[I]n the post-9/11 era, no one else has combined Flynn’s rank and high-profile position at retirement, and the speed—once out of uniform—with which he began lambasting the policies of the administration he had just been serving,” a June 2015 Foreign Policy article stated. “An even bigger concern is that Flynn could come to be seen as politicizing the military’s officer corps and blurring—or erasing—the line separating senior military generals from partisan politics.”

Said one former colleague in the intelligence community of Flynn’s public attacks on the Obama administration: “I’m always a little bit uncomfortable with recently retired general officers being highly critical [of any U.S. administration]. … They’re still considered generals, and all of us in uniform are taught from the beginning that we swear an oath to subordinate ourselves and not to get involved in policy and politics except in discreet settings when the president or whomever asks.”

Flynn’s tenure at the DIA lasted one year less than the customary three years DIA directors serve. “ He had stated that he has “not ruled out running for elected office at some point in the future,” although subsequent events have likely mooted any such plans.[34]

On Iran and the Broader Middle East

Flynn has long pressed for a highly aggressive approach to Iran. For instance, according to the New York Times, Flynn tried to use the 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi as a ploy against Iran. Soon after the Benghazi incident, he “took to pushing analysts to find Iran’s hidden hand in the disaster, according to current and former officials familiar with the episode. But like many other investigations into Benghazi, theirs found no evidence of any links, and the general’s stubborn insistence reminded some officials at the agency of how the Bush administration had once relentlessly sought to connect Saddam Hussein and Iraq to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.”[35]

Flynn was critical of the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute and denounced the July 2015 nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers. He stated that the United States gets “nothing but grief” from the deal and has outlandishly proclaimed that it will lead to “the elimination of Israel” and a “large regional war.”[36]

In June 2015, Flynn testified on Iran before the U.S. House of Representatives, where he argued that “regime change” in Iran was the “best way to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program.”[37]

Flynn further claimed during his testimony: “Iran has every intention to build a nuclear weapon. They have stated it many times.” In fact, Iranian officials have consistently maintained that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only,[38]and that U.S. intelligence agencies in 2007 and 2011 assessed that Tehran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and had likely never made a decision to actually acquire one should its capabilities ever develop that far.[39]

Flynn was an advisor to the anti-Iran deal group Veterans Against the Deal, which partnered with the American Security Initiative(ASI) to run TV ads opposing the deal in the run up to Congress’s September 17, 2015 deadline to vote on the agreement. ASI’s board includes avowedly militarist figures like former Sens. Norm Coleman(R-MN) and Joe Lieberman(I-CT).[40]

In a March 2015 interview with Fox News Flynn declared that the Obama administration intentionally remains ignorant about issues in the Middle East. He argued that the United States is working with “almost a policy of willful ignorance,” adding that “we are talking to Iran about a nuclear deal with this almost complete order of breakdown in the Middle East.”

He also argued during the interview that “Iran and radical Islamist extremists” are opposed to the United States because they “do not like our way of life … in fact, they have stated that they want to see the destruction of our way of life.”[41]

Flynn has lent credence to claims that the United States recognized in 2012, shortly after the start of the Syrian uprising, that much of the insurgent opposition in Syria was dominated by radical Islamist groups, pointing to a declassified DIA report stating that in August 2012 the U.S.-backed Syrian insurgency was mostly comprised of “the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda in Iraq.” Flynn said that the Obama administration made a “willful decision” to turn a “blind eye” to this.[42]

Flynn has pushed back against calls for the United States to lower its footprint in the Middle East or to disengage from other parts of the world. “The U.S. must put the Middle East at the forefront of its foreign policy or this will unravel quickly,” he said in a September 2015 interview.[43]In January 2015 he said: “Retreat, retrenchment and disarmament are historically a recipe for disaster.”[44]

Flynn has also stated that U.S. “unwillingness to fight” creates more danger for the United States than the “arrogance of American power.” He told the Daily Beast in January 2015: “The dangers to the U.S. do not arise from the arrogance of American power, but from unpreparedness or an excessive unwillingness to fight when fighting is necessary.”[45]

SOURCES

[1]Eric Bradner, Sara Murray and Ryan Browne, “Trump offers Flynn job of national security advisor,” CNN, November 18, 2016, https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/trump-offers-flynn-job-of-national-security-adviser/

[2]Sean Naylor, “Out of Uniform and Into the Political Fray,” Foreign Policy, June 19, 2015, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/19/out-of-uniform-and-into-the-political-fray/

[3]Jason Criss Howk, “Lieutenant General (Retired) Michael Flynn and the Iranian Nuclear,” Medium, September 8, 2015, https://medium.com/the-bridge/lieutenant-general-retired-michael-flynn-and-the-iranian-nuclear-agreement-f732535095dc.

[4]Jessica Taylor, “White House Press Secretary Says Trump Fired Flynn As National Security Adviser,” NPR, February 14, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/02/14/515215088/white-house-press-secretary-says-trump-fired-flynn-as-national-security-adviser

[5]Miles Parks, “The 10 Events You Need To Know To Understand The Michael Flynn Story,” NPR, December 5, 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/12/05/568319589/the-10-events-you-need-to-know-to-understand-the-michael-flynn-story

[6]Katie Bo Williams, “Flynn enters guilty plea, will cooperate with Mueller,” The Hill, December 1, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/362750-flynn-pleads-guilty-to-lying-to-the-fbi

[7]Michael D. Shear and Adam Goldman, “Michael Flynn Pleads Guilty to Lying to the F.B.I. and Will Cooperate With Russia Inquiry,” New York Times, December 1, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/us/politics/michael-flynn-guilty-russia-investigation.html

[8]Chris Megerian, “Judge again delays sentencing for Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-mike-flynn-court-20180710-story.html#

[9]Bryan Bender and Andrew Hanna, “Flynn under fire for fake news,” Politico, December 5, 2016, https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/michael-flynn-conspiracy-pizzeria-trump-232227

[10]USA News, Twitter, October 13, 2016, https://twitter.com/USANEWS007/status/786686648520015872

[11]Amy Mek, Twitter, October 10, 2016, https://twitter.com/AmyMek/status/785350953666871296

[12]Matthew Rosenberg, Mark Mazzetti and Adam Goldman, “Trump’s National Security Pick Sees Ally in Fight Against Islamists: Russia,” New York Times, January 10, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/trumps-national-security-pick-sees-ally-in-fight-against-islamists-russia.html

[13]General Flynn, Twitter, February 26, 2016, https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/703387702998278144

[14]Emetonline, VIDEO, “Q&A with LTG Michael Flynn ‘Predictions for an Increasingly Volatile Middle East,’” YouTube, Januray 27, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fhZLtSWzsk

[15]Eli Clifton, “Flynn: End U.S. Support For Israel-Palestine Peace Process,” Lobelog, December 9, 2016, http://lobelog.com/flynn-end-u-s-support-for-israel-palestine-peace-process/

[16]Michael T. Flynn and Michael Ledeen, “How to Make America Win Again,” Time, July 12, 2016, http://time.com/4402714/michael-flynn-field-of-fight/

[17]Jim Lobe, “Flynn’s Wacky Worldview,” Lobelog, December 13, 2016, http://lobelog.com/flynns-wacky-worldview/

[18]Jim Lobe, “Flynn Simply Unfit,” Lobelog, December 5, 2016, http://lobelog.com/flynn-simply-unfit/

[19]Carlos Lozada, “Trump’s national security adviser says he’s ready to fight another world war,” Washington Post, November 22, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/11/22/trumps-national-security-adviser-is-ready-to-fight-another-world-war/?utm_term=.87be0628d714

[20]Michael Ledeen, “A Theory,” National Review, March 10, 2003, https://www.nationalreview.com/2003/03/theory-michael-ledeen/

[21]Jim Lobe, “Flynn’s Wacky Worldview,” Lobelog, December 13, 2016, http://lobelog.com/flynns-wacky-worldview/

[22]Eli Lake, “General Flynn’s All-Out War on Terror,” Bloomberg, July 11, 2016, https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-11/michael-flynn-s-all-out-war-on-terror

[23]Andrew Kaczynski, “Michael Flynn in August: Islamism a ‘vicious cancer’ in body of all Muslims that ‘has to be excised,’” CNN, November 23, 2016, https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/kfile-michael-flynn-august-speech/

[24]Kimberly Dvorak, “General Flynn interview July 19th at the GOP Convention, Union Club of Cleveland,” YouTube, July 21, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikmpWbXb52I

[25]Eli Clifton, “Flynn: Prophet Muhammad And Quran Are “Incompatible” With Modernity,” December 6, 2016, http://lobelog.com/flynn-prophet-muhammad-and-quran-are-incompatible-with-modernity/

[26]Dana Priest and Greg Miller, “He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now he’s leading ‘Lock her up’ chants,” Washington Post, August 15, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nearly-the-entire-national-security-establishment-has-rejected-trumpexcept-for-this-man/2016/08/15/d5072d96-5e4b-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html?utm_term=.0a8bfb67128b

[27]Dana Priest, “Trump adviser Michael T. Flynn on his dinner with Putin and why Russia Today is just like CNN,” Washington Post, August 15, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/15/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn/?utm_term=.8e03bf972a4c

[28]Dana Priest and Greg Miller, “He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now he’s leading ‘Lock her up’ chants,” Washington Post, August 15, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nearly-the-entire-national-security-establishment-has-rejected-trumpexcept-for-this-man/2016/08/15/d5072d96-5e4b-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html?utm_term=.0a8bfb67128b

[29]Right Side Broadcasting Network, “Lt. Gen Michael Flynn Full Explosive Speech At Republican National Convention,” YouTube, July 18, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bA-Z2vmaFU

[30]Yochi Dreazen, “Michael Flynn, Trump’s new national security adviser, loves Russia as much as his boss does,” Vox, November 21, 2016, https://www.vox.com/2016/11/17/13673280/mike-flynn-trump-new-national-security-adviser-russia-isis-obama-clinton-turkey

[31]Sean Naylor, “Out of Uniform and Into the Political Fray,” Foreign Policy, June 19, 2015, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/19/out-of-uniform-and-into-the-political-fray/.

[32]Dana Priest and Greg Miller, “He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now he’s leading ‘Lock her up’ chants,” Washington Post, August 15, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nearly-the-entire-national-security-establishment-has-rejected-trumpexcept-for-this-man/2016/08/15/d5072d96-5e4b-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html?utm_term=.0a8bfb67128b

[33]Eli Clifton, “Cozy Overlap Between Flynn’s Drone Company And Trump’s Border Plans,” Lobelog, November 22, 2016, https://lobelog.com/cozy-overlap-between-flynns-drone-company-and-trumps-border-plans/

[34]Sean Naylor, “Out of Uniform and Into the Political Fray,” Foreign Policy, June 19, 2015, http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/19/out-of-uniform-and-into-the-political-fray/

[35]Matthew Rosenberg, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, “In Trump’s Security Pick, Michael Flynn, ‘Sharp Elbows’ and No Dissent,” December 3, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/us/politics/in-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn-experience-meets-a-prickly-past.html?_r=1

[36]Jason Criss Howk, “Lieutenant General (Retired) Michael Flynn and the Iranian Nuclear,” Medium, September 8, 2015, https://medium.com/the-bridge/lieutenant-general-retired-michael-flynn-and-the-iranian-nuclear-agreement-f732535095dc

[37]Michael Flynn Testimony on Iran, Joint Foreign Affairs and HASC Subcommittees, June 10, 2015, http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20150610/103582/HHRG-114-FA13-Wstate-FlynnM-20150610.pdf

[38]Shahram Chubin, “The Politics of Iran’s Nuclear Program,” The Iran Primer, http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/politics-irans-nuclear-program

[39]“Key Judgments From a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s Nuclear Activity,” New York Times, December 4, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/washington/04itext.html

[40]Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Lobbying Fight Over Iran Nuclear Deal Centers on Democrats,” The New York Times, August 17, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/world/middleeast/lobbying-fight-over-iran-nuclear-deal-centers-on-democrats.html

[41]Sandy Fitzgerald, “Gen. Flynn: Obama’s Middle East Policy One of ‘Willful Ignorance,’” Newsmax, March 29, 2015, http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/GenMichael-Flynn-Iran-nuclear-deal/2015/03/29/id/635140/

[42]Nafeez Ahmed, “Officials: Islamic State arose from US support for al-Qaeda in Iraq,” Medium, August 13, 2015, https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/officials-islamic-state-arose-from-us-support-for-al-qaeda-in-iraq-a37c9a60be4

[43]Jason Criss Howk, “Lieutenant General (Retired) Michael Flynn and the Iranian Nuclear,” Medium, September 8, 2015, https://medium.com/the-bridge/lieutenant-general-retired-michael-flynn-and-the-iranian-nuclear-agreement-f732535095dc

[44]Stephen Hayes, “Former Defense Intel Chief Blasts Obama,” The Weekly Standard, January 27, 2015, http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/former-defense-intel-chief-blasts-obama_826593.html?page=1

[45]Kimberly Dozier, “Spy General Unloads on Obama’s ISIS War Plan,” The Daily Beast, January 27, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/27/ex-pentagon-spy-chief-blasts-white-house-paralyzed-by-radical-islam.html