Its happening to some extent i think the f. B. I. And the cia are still very reliable organizations that that are following their their guidelines i still have complete trust and confidence in the organizations but youre right theres the questions do arise and its because of the highly politicized nature of our domestic politics right now between the republicans and democrats and between those who support the president those who dont support the president so i agree its a very concerning time and i think its going to be a time when we in a way redefine our limits you know what is the proper role of the cia and the f. B. I. In the in our Domestic Affairs and weve learned in our history from the past that we should stay out of american politics. And the House Intelligence Committee has released a republican numinous report which contains allegations that f. B. I. Misled the judge in obtaining permission to spy on trumps president ial campaign this report has already been branded inaccurate and is a part of the blame game or is there some substance to this personally i think its the blame game thats my personal view the nunez paper in my view is a republican version of cherry picking the facts as they choose to present them and now i understand theres another version circulating this the democratic version i frankly find that whole process to be regrown also not something im proud of as an american id prefer to see both parties sit down disks and discuss these things not in the public eye without declassifying or releasing classified information i think all of that is not something i as an american citizen that i would endorse or or say is a good thing especially as trumps election things havent been like they used to be for like from what i understand about the american system the nations Foreign Policy is largely decided in the white house and the state department and then theres a congress in the senate and theyre more preoccupied was internal matters this Time Congress is so active in pushing his Foreign Policy vision on the president why. Well i think thats true generally sophia and of course we also have the National Security council and unlike russia and some other countries china and others that have a more continuity in Foreign Policy work and making we dont do largely through the political nature of our system we run in for a year cycles a lot a large part of that which is consumed with electioneering and campaigning and i think thats a weakness of our system i still of course believe in the Representative Government idea that we that we sacrifice this continuity of stability in our policy making but it is it is a vulnerability or a weakness and you can really see it right now because. Largely because we are dealing with unprecedented issues that weve never had that considered weve never had such an aggressive intelligence attack if you will on the American Democratic institutions and our and our election process that we just had in the previous election that has caused a great deal of this i think a soul searching inside the u. S. So what is coming out of the issue the trump russia story you said yourself theres no hard evidence yet yet of trump straight on collision with russia so why does the public believe it to be a fact and the media in america reports it as a fact of also. I hope the American People or the media dont believe it is a fact sophie i i i see it as the facts are clear that for whatever reason and i question why the russian intelligence services. Attacked our system so aggressively but i think that is a fact i dont i dont think thats the nihil the question then is what did that do and what impact that have on the results of the election and for what reason did russian intelligence conduct that activity i dont have the answers to those questions and i wont speculate because i think that would be irresponsible i think we have to determine what happened and then decide what happened on the basis of the evidence and i dont think were there yet but for his us to think i dont know that anyone has presented the evidence and then the facts have been presented to the public by intelligence agencies and im probably has been misled intentionally or not by its Intelligence Committee many times like im thinking w m ds in iraq for instance since the consequences of that are still felt fifteen years or so while a whole hearted face in what the intelligence is telling them about russia now especially what youre saying its a fact but every time russia asks to show them the facts they they they are unable to provide them occur just like with iraq i think thats a legitimate i think thats a legitimate accusation sofi to the extent that it puts pressure on the u. S. Intelligence community to do something its hard to do which is to present the if you will the secret facts or the story i dont even know frankly the secret story because i dont have a reason need to know that as a retired cia officer however if they do present the facts theres a risk of compromising what we call sources and our methods which would of course not not be good so the question is how much evidence should be provided to the American People im personally and i stress this is my personal view an advocate of declassifying as much information as possible and presenting it to the American People and to present it. To the russian government i think we really need to initiate a process that we negotiate an end to this kind of aggressive cyber hacking and interference in our one anothers Domestic Affairs if president putin believes the u. S. Is interfering in russian Domestic Affairs or internal affairs its not a good approach to interfere in our affairs in order to get us to stop doing it so i think its in the interest of both sides of sit down and and talk this over and try to avoid a repetition of what happened in two thousand and sixteen in the future. Ok lets take a short break right now and when were back well continue talking to cia veteran ralph larsen discover a spy agencies position and its today swell tension still change. Heres what people have been saying about redacted the night its yours is actually just full on awesome power the only show i go out of my way to find generally what it is that really packs a punch at least yampa is the john oliver of hearty americans do the same we are apparently better than food that see the savior you never heard of love right back to the night my president of the world bank paid. Me seriously he sent us an email. Hey everybody im stephen bob. Taft hollywood guy youll suspect every proud american first of all im just George Washington and r. V. News this is my buddy max famous financial guru well hes a little bit different im. Going to. You know when those up with all the drama happening in our country im hitting the road to have some fun meet Everyday Americans more. Closely start to bridge the gap this is the great American People. Now were back with cia veteran raul small at larsen former top cia official in a two decade veteran of the agency talked about this by viewers well in todays United States internal and external policy seraph Michael Powell has just recently met hands of russias intelligence verus to protect the American People as he put it so hostile wrestle rake threatening sanctions aside russia and the u. S. Are still programatic enough to Work Together on some issues right. Thats right sophia its really important that professionals in the intelligence business not cease cooperation even at the hardest times we have a long history between the u. S. And russia that goes back in the soviet days of setting aside our most grievous complaints against one another to cooperate in areas like counterterrorism and sometimes on counterintelligence and other issues that impact them both on our bilateral relations and i applaud the recent meeting of the three russian intelligence visits chiefs in washington with director pompei and others i think its a great move toward to reinforce the idea that we must continue to cooperate in areas of common interest to both countries so obviously congress is up in arms to russian american intelligence she was meeting while the lawmaker is big gains this if it does bring tangible results in a fight against terrorism. Well i know some people in congress and i interact quite a bit with congress too if you will inform and advise specifically on the areas that we need to talk with one another to continue keeping our country safe both of our countries i thin American Interest to not see any russians die in terrorist attacks as it is in russian interest to prevent any terrorist attacks in the United States or elsewhere in the world so i dont think theres any dispute on that in congress and i think maybe some of the posturing is frankly political as opposed to substantive i havent heard anyone say we shouldnt be talking to one another on counterterrorism issues democrats senator Chuck Schumer has demanded publicly naming everyone who had contact with the russian intelligence delegation and we want that sort of all across the board disclosure being damaging for the nation. Yes i think it sends the wrong message if i were to talk to senator schumer i would i would certainly urge him not to politicize you talked about politicizing intelligence earlier this would be an example of it if we dont do this cooperation with it but between one another in areas such as. Exchanging information and analysis on the terrorist groups and their activity whether its in syria or around the world in the caucasus in them in the u. S. We should all be fired so we have to have the courage to do that its in my experience of i was involved in the earliest if you will lays on work between the u. S. And russia at the time of the breakup of the soviet union and i dont recall a time when three intelligence chiefs all came together to washington has such as just happened and so i take it as a very positive signal of a desire to do more and i hope both sides can find the strength to do that. This is just a chance for politicians to the loughton t. V. Friendly blaming spies right last because on the other hand surely they must care about the actual issues of National Security right yes i i hope so and i have i have a deep respect for senator schumer and i i quite i would question this based on what ive seen in the media and i hope behind it all its not a seriously questioning why we would be doing this at this time i would also add that again this is a somewhat unorthodox view for someone like me im not a believer in applying sanctions to people that are doing their jobs we have a long history of of trying to avoid that sort of politicization of intelligence so i think we try to have to try to find out find a way to deescalate the politicization of intelligence activity it would help again if both sides particularly in this case i would have to put more pressure on the russian side to stop interfering in u. S. Domestic affairs with intelligence activity and that would set a better environment to deescalate the rising tensions on a political level and that this fact that Intelligence Committees on capitol hill havent been briefed about this mean that the administration has no trust in congress. I dont think i would go that far sophia i think it reflects the very sharp political dividing lines right now in our country and not just between the democrats and republicans but between within the parties themselves i think the democrats are struggling to reestablish their identity to decide what hard or wing of the Democratic Party will move forward into the next election cycles and i think the Republican Party is there trying to decide how much the president some do some dont its you know im not