is matthew cronie he's a deputy director at the scowcroft center for strategy and security thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera so what was your reaction to the story when you found out. well to be honest i wasn't terribly surprised this kind of thing happens frequently washington d.c. is has more spies than any other city on earth foreign countries often send their people here looking to infiltrate the us system to pose as diplomats and vice versa embassies overseas are often areas where people posing as legitimate employees are actually working for intelligence services so this kind of thing actually happens fairly fairly frequently so may happen frequently but does that mean that it's not damaging or rather questionable how damaging could this be to the u.s. security intelligence agencies well it can be very damaging and we've had some high profile cases of successful spies in the past who were able to get out large materials of classified information that's led to. you know people losing their lives in this case fortunately it doesn't seem like the woman in questio

the natchez and -- d natchez and -- brent scowcroft, colin powell. a list that goes all the way back to the formation in 1961. in fact, you could not have formed at a more timely moment. one year before the cuban missile crisis. history does not record what role the atlantic council played, but i have no doubt that the rise council of some of your founder members was sought. judging by the outcome, it was clearly good advice. today, the insights of your experts are just as important as we seek to navigate a rapidly changing world, to adapt and hardest change and work together to seize the opportunities that change brings. we need that type of dynamic, creative thinking. i know that many people in this city are nervous about the rapidly changing politics, the rise of new powers and the moving tectonic plates of global politics. people still worry about brexit and what role britain will play in the world. no one should worry. while britain is leaving the european union, we are clear about our place in the world. we will remain a nation that champions t

i am talking about people like the late george bundy, brent scowcroft, intelligent intellectuals if you will, they served republicans and democrats. they're above the political fray. they should be able to keep their security clearance. mr. brennan has made a decision and it is a free country, he is entitled to do so to basically become a politician. in our free enterprise system, he is being paid and paid well to make provocative statements on television that are very political. >> senator -- >> but let me finish my point, poppy. if mr. brennan repeated in an airport some of the things he said on tv, he would either be in handcuffs or in a straight jacket. and i can't imagine anybody going to mr. brennan for objective analysis of the national security situation. >> what comments do you think would get him arrested in an airport specifically? obviously there's the calling the helsinki summit with putin tantamount to treason, there's the hogwash comment regarding collusion in "new york times" opinion piece, but what specific language are you talking about regarding brennan. >> i think mr

bush, brent scowcro scowcroft. you get to all of his obsession, we're also losing something very fluchlt. >> carl, everybody knows about president nixon famous to having an enemies list. this comparable to that? >> yes, but it's worse because it's hard to make an argument that richard nixon was a threat to the security, the national security of the united states. in this statement from the president and his people, they are saying that brennan's erratic behavior and conduct threatened the national security. it's the erratic behavior and conduct of donald trump that is a threat to the national security through actions such as this and through what we saw in helsinki and through what we saw in the oval office in the presence of the russian ambassador when he revealed national security secrets. this is a reckless president of the united states with no regard for the rule of law or tradition and for decency in terms of people expressing their led legitimate freedom of speech. mr. brennan has a right to freedom of speec