‘Off the map,’ ‘dashboard warning’: How intelligence vets see Kushner/Russia
WASHINGTON — Former members of America’s intelligence community are plumbing the depths of their reservoir of metaphors to express distress over news that the president’s son-in-law tried setting up a secret communication channel with Russia.
“Off the map,” said the former head of the CIA, Michael Hayden, telling CNN: “I know of no other experience like this in our history, certainly within my life experience.”
“My dashboard warning light was clearly on,” said James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence. He told NBC that what he heard late last year, while he was still in office, worried him: “And I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community. Very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the Russians.”
What Jared Kushner did after the election is not in dispute. The president’s son-in-law and future staffer reportedly suggested to Russia’s ambassador, shortly after the election, that they establish a secure channel to communicate off of U.S. radar.