expectations, and he did. james clapper, the director of national intelligence at the time, hired flynn despite perhaps even because of flynn s past criticism of u.s. intelligence. i brought mike to odni to fix all the intelligence issues that he had been complaining about. did you have any reservations tapping him? mike had a reputation for being an innovator, somebody who questioned the system, perhaps resort to unconventional ways of getting things done. flynn moved immediately to shake up a sprawling agency with more than 16,000 employees. tell me about your experience with him there. he came in, ready to make changes. jason hauk who served with flynn and general mcchrystal in
at the end of 2010, to add further insult rather than receiving a hero s welcome, he found himself under investigation for inappropriately sharing classified information with u.s. allies. he broke the rules and he shared that intelligence and he said to me he would do it again. the case was dropped. the army concluding there was no evidence of senior officer misconduct. next, flynn trades the fight in afghanistan for the political battlefield of washington, d.c. people talked about flynn facts. you ve heard this expression. that concerned me. directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like wet grocery bags. getting a bad haircut. overcrowded trains. turnstiles that don t turn. and spilling coffee on themselves. but for everyone else, there s directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv.
and we did. zarqawi was killed. al qaeda in iraq s leader eliminated. coming up, mike flynn in afghanistan. he was very much a renegade. and breaking the rules. his word to me was, i would do it again. let s get the one with the candy canes. well, you know, the wrapping paper doesn t make the holidays. it s what s inside that counts. it s a phone for mom. okay, well, it s also what s inside the phone that counts, too. circuits? no, the network. so the network is inside the phone? well, no, the network s around the phone. and verizon is the most awarded network ever. that s why more people count on it. here you go.
good intel officer? well, he was particularly good because he had so much tactical time. and that was his forte, in my view. a great tactical intelligence officer. tactical time means time on the battlefield. time on the battlefield and in tactical units. a lot of time in special operations world. flynn was on the ground quickly by june 2009. this is the last chance for afghanistan. in this century. afghanistan was a much different battlefield than iraq, and he believed he needed a better understanding of the situation to form a new and better strategy. he did a listening tour around the country, more than one, where he would just go to various villages and towns around afghanistan and talk to the local merchants, the local political leaders, the
by 2009, afghanistan was already america s longest war since vietnam. and now u.s. forces were losing territory and suffering casualties at a record pace. many began to fear the u.s. could lose the war, prompting the secretary of defense to turn to the same commander who had helped rescue the war in iraq. i can t promise miracles, but i can promise what we committed. quickly, general mccrystal turned to the partner he had relied on before, general michael flynn. tell me about the relationship between him and mcchrystal. they were very, very close. it gets that way if you work with somebody a long time. they came to depend on each other. what do you think made him a