Nada Bakos, a former targeting officer who served with the CIA from 2000 to 2010, most notably on the team hunting for the godfather of ISIS, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, uploaded the short video to Twitter on Tuesday, where it has gone viral.
"When I watched President Trump speak at the CIA last weekend, I was very hopeful. I was hoping that he would reach out to the workforce as an olive branch after the hostile relationship that he had promoted between him and the intelligence community," Bakos said.
"I was very hopeful that he would understand the building that he was in. That he would understand the apolitical nature of the work that they do. The objectivity that they strive for in their analysis," she said, concluding, "I didn't see a president trying to repair the relationship. I didn't see a president that made an effort to understand the solemnness and the humility it should take to speak in front of that wall."
Trump was widely criticized for his speech at the CIA's Langley, Va. headquarters, in front of the memorial wall where 117 stars signify men and women of the agency who have died in the line of duty. Trump spoke of his confidence in the CIA and only paid passing reference to the memorial wall. He also brought up the size of the crowd at his inauguration, the number of times he's been on the cover of Time magazine, and nonchalantly said that perhaps, in the future, the US would steal oil from Iraq.
Sources who spoke to CBS News said the speech likely made relations between the president and the CIA even worse.
"You can't sweet talk a good spy," Bakos said. "Falsehoods and 'alternative facts' are no way to win over a workforce whose job it is to discern the truth. ... so I implore you, President Trump. Please help repair this relationship, because we need this for our national security going forward."
Watch the full video:
As a former CIA analyst and targeting officer, here's what I think about Trump's speech at the #CIA on Saturday: pic.twitter.com/6JddSmAJhW
- Nada Bakos (@nadabakos) January 25, 2017