Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden bluntly criticized the U.S. intelligence community for leaking details of the Manchester attack to the press, in an interview with the Washington Times Thursday.
“There should be no sense of anger on our part, rather a sense of disappointment and shame in our own performance,” Hayden declared. Hayden’s comments follow a temporary suspension of Manchester intelligence sharing between the U.S. and the United Kingdom after crime scene photos of the Monday bombing appeared in The New York Times.
The leak was considered so serious that British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would raise the matter with President Donald Trump, and Manchester police said they would stop sharing information until they could receive a guarantee that the leaks would stop.
Trump pledged in a Thursday statement to get the bottom of the leaks and suggested he may even prompt prosecution of the leakers. Intelligence sharing resumed Friday after May’s warning to Trump.
“They have an absolute right to do what they did. It should be a lesson for us,” Hayden lamented. “This is British information that is shared on the condition that we will follow British rules.”
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