A Central New York national security expert says the whistle-blower complaint against the White House indicates some unusual activities by the President. Bill Smullen directed Syracuse University’s National Security program and worked in the state department.
Smullen remembers many high-level conversations with other countries as assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
“He (Powell) spoke from talking points, and that’s very important. I think what the President did was strayed from what should have been talking points placed in front of him and he never should have done that. And by going off script, he got himself in a bit of a problem.”
Smullen also finds the whistle-blower’s complaint credible. Again, in his experience such an official would have insider knowledge.
“(The whistleblower) is a CIA agent who formerly worked in the White House, so he knows people there. And they conveyed to him that the president had a problem that the United States had a problem, with having misspoken if this ever saw the light of day.”
Perhaps most seriously, he believes national security was compromised when the President allegedly sought a political deal while withholding aid to Ukraine.
“They (Ukraine) needed the military equipment. The fact that we were holding it up for political purposes was a national security, in my view, error or violation. So it had an impact and it was a quid-pro-quo.”
Whatever the outcome of a congressional investigation or impeachment, Smullen concludes it’s not a shining moment for our country.