Former CIA officer Larry Johnson, who did presidential daily briefings during the George H.W. Bush administration, told "Judging Freedom" host Andrew Napolitano that he thinks
the latest leak of Ukraine War documents is an inside job.
About the source, he said: "I'd put it above the CIA. This is elements connected to the Director of National Intelligence... There's no way that some National Guardsman doing [temporary duty] at Fort Bragg would have access to that."
"The information was leaked for [a purpose], to prepare the U.S. public for the crash landing that's going to take place with respect to U.S. foreign policy," he said.
"The documents are real. I’m not saying the documents are fabrications, they are not. But this cover story that's been manufactured to explain how these documents came to be produced, it just falls apart... This thing is too tidy a package, this has been wrapped up nice and neatly, this is like an episode of 'Law And Order.'"
LARRY JOHNSON: This is a coordinated media strategy, this is a disinformation campaign. The documents are real. I’m not saying the documents are fabrications, they are not. But this cover story that's been manufactured to explain how these documents came to be produced, it just falls apart. It simply falls apart based on one document, which is listed as "CIA Operations Center Report: Top Secret." I worked in the CIA operations center, and I helped prepare those reports, that's an internal CIA document. No one on a U.S. military base anywhere in the world will have access to that kind of document.
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Who or what is spreading the misinformation? Is this CIA feeding garbage to their friends in the American and British media?
LARRY JOHNSON: I'd put it above the CIA. This is elements connected to the Director of National Intelligence. That's the one place you can bring together CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA, all the key elements. They are the one place in the U.S. government where you can assemble all this material. And the way this was so neatly packaged up -- until I saw that CIA document, I was inclined to believe that this was the work of a whistleblower wanting to flag the problems about the public discrepancy about what Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, and Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the lies they were telling in public, as opposed to the actual reality of what they were being briefed on, in top secret briefings.
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: How embarrassed is the Biden White House, the Pentagon, and Langley (CIA), over these leaks?
LARRY JOHNSON: Some are embarrassed and horrified by it, but the strategy that is underway is the information was leaked for [a purpose], to prepare the U.S. public for the crash landing that's going to take place with respect to U.S. foreign policy. The crash landing in Ukraine, in China, the fact we're already seeing elements--
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Are you saying this was a controlled leak?
LARRY JOHNSON: Yes.
ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Done by management, not done by some Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning-type?
LARRY JOHNSON: There are some elements within management that thought this was a good idea. This shows how unprofessional and ridiculous it is, and dangerous. This information was leaked about Israel. Part of that comes from a FISA, it's got a FISA classification on it, which does necessarily mean this is Department of Justice/FBI territory. So again, there's no way that some National Guardsman doing [temporary duty] at Fort Bragg would have access to that.
And I'm not basing that on what happened to me 40 years ago... I worked in SCIFs and I still have friends who do... None of them have seen anything like this, particularly that CIA Operations Center document, or the FISA document... This thing is too tidy a package, this has been wrapped up nice and neatly, this is like an episode of "Law And Order."
