WikiLeaks Reveals CIA Director John Brennan’s Iran Memo to Obama

WikiLeaks posted material online from what appears to be CIA director John Brennan’s personal email account.

In this December 11, 2014 fie photo, CIA director John Brennan listens during a news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. (Photo: AP)

WikiLeaks on Wednesday posted material from what appears to be CIA director John Brennan’s personal email account, including a draft security clearance application containing personal information.

The material presumably was taken in a compromise of Brennan’s email account by a hacker who told The New York Post he is a high school student protesting American foreign policy. The hacker claimed he posed as a Verizon employee and tricked another employee into revealing Brennan’s personal information.

Brennan was seeking security clearance while applying for a job as White House counter-terrorism adviser. It was not immediately clear whether any national security information was compromised in the release of the clearance application, which includes his wife’s Social Security number and the names of the people Brennan worked with over a long career at the CIA earlier.

CIA Statement Called the Postings a “Crime”

<p>The Brennan family is the victim. This attack is something that could happen to anyone and should be condemned, not promoted. There is no indication that any of the documents released thus far are classified. In fact, they appear to be documents that a private citizen with national security interests and expertise would be expected to possess.</p>

<p><b>CIA’s unattributed statement (in keeping with agency policy)</b></p>

The documents all date from before 2009, when Brennan joined the White House staff; before that, he was working in the private sector. Apart from the partially completed clearance application, none of the documents appear to be sensitive.

The Iran Memo

The documents include a partially written position paper on the future of intelligence, a memo on Iran, a paper from a Republican lawmaker on CIA interrogations and a summary of a contract dispute between the CIA and Brennan’s private company, the Analysis Corporation, which had filed a formal protest after losing a contract dealing with terrorist watch lists.

Brennan advised Obama to “tone down” rhetoric with Iran, and swiped at former President George W Bush for his “gratuitous” labelling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil.”

In a post-election memo, purportedly written to Obama, Brennan laid out a pragmatic roadmap on dealings with Iran. His suggestions are similar to the carrot-and-stick approach the administration would eventually use in nudging Tehran toward joining negotiations over slowing the momentum of its growing nuclear reactor programme.

“The United States has no choice but to find ways to coexist — and to come to terms — with whatever government holds power in Tehran,” Brennan said in the three-page memo. He added that Iran would have to “come to terms” with the US and that “Tehran’s ability to advance its political and economic interests rests on a non-hostile relationship with the United States and the West.”

In the memo, Brennan advised Obama to “tone down” rhetoric with Iran, and swiped at former President George W Bush for his “gratuitous” labelling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil.” Brennan also said the US should establish a direct dialogue with Tehran and “seek realistic, measurable steps.” Although he didn’t specifically call for the regime of financial sanctions that the Obama administration, along with Europe, Russia and China, pushed against Iran, Brennan told the president-elect to “hold out meaningful carrots as well as sticks.”