US CIA Director John Brennan warns Donald Trump to watch what he says

Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan on Sunday slammed Donald Trump for equating the actions of intelligence community with that of Nazi Germany and warned the president-elect to watch what he says as it could have adverse effects on national security.

"What I do find outrageous is equating the intelligence community with Nazi Germany. I do take great umbrage at that, and there is no basis for Mr Trump to point fingers at the intelligence community for leaking information that was already available publicly," Brennan told Fox News.

He was responding to questions on a tweet by Trump after some media reported about an alleged intelligence community document which claimed that the Russian intelligence agencies have compromised Trump s personal and financial information.

"I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful, that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out be so false and fake out. I think it's a disgrace, and I say that and I say that, and that something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do," Trump had said.

Both Russia and the US intelligence agencies have denied such report, which has been under circulation for the past few months and was prepared by a former British intelligence agent during the elections. "Well, I think as the Director of National Intelligence said in his statement, this information has been out there circulating for many months. So, it's not a question of the intelligence community leaking or releasing this information, it was already out there," Brennan said.

However, he did acknowledge that the intelligence community in its briefing with the president-elect did brief him about the circulation of such a report. "Bringing to the attention of the president-elect, as well as to the current president that this was circulating out there was a responsibility in the minds of the intelligence directors, of the intelligence community to make sure that there was going to be no evaluation of it, but just making sure that the president-elect was aware that it was circulating," he said.

The intelligence community, he said, is prepared to support the president-elect and his incoming team. "So, there is no interest in undermining the president- elect and the national security team that's coming in. It's our responsibility to make sure that they understand exactly the dangers that are on the world stage, so that as they can decide on which policy courses they want to pursue, they have both the full benefit of the expertise, the capability, the experience and the intelligence that we have so that they can make the best decisions for this country," he asserted.

Brennan at the same time warned of dangers and pitfalls of differences between the intelligence community and the president-elect. "There are many dangers. I think the world is watching now what Mr Trump says, and listening very carefully. If he doesn't have confidence in the intelligence community, what signal does that send to our partners and allies, as well as our adversaries?" he said. 

"So, I think Mr Trump has to be very disciplined in terms of what it is that he says publicly, he is going to be in a few days' time, the most powerful person in the world in terms of sitting on top of the United States government and I think he has to recognise that his words do have impact. And they can have very positive impact, or they can be undercutting of our national security," Brennan said.

Responding to news reports that Trump is planning to lift sanctions on Russia, Brennan observed that Trump does not has much information on the capabilities of Russia. "I don't think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia's intentions, and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world. And that's with the obligation and responsibility of the intelligence community is," he said.

"I very much hope that our relationship with Russia improves in the coming administration -- absolutely -- because there are very important things we need to do, not just on counter terrorism, but trying to deal with political instability around the globe. But here is a fair amount of responsibility on Russia's part to change their behaviour, change their actions," he said.

"Trump has to understand that absolving Russia of the various actions that it's taken in the past number of years is a road that he I think needs to be very, very careful about moving down," Brennan warned.