(2018-08-18) — A dozen former CIA officials penned an open letter alleging President Donald Trump revoked former CIA boss John Brennan’s security clearances as a unprecedented “political tool”, and demanded restoration of Brennan’s top-secret access to help him make political attacks against Trump on TV and in newspapers.

The letter, signed by intel chiefs dating back to the Reagan administration, noted that “It’s tough to get in front of the cable news cameras if they think you don’t know anything more than the average person who watches cable news. Who’s going to book a retired know-nothing? Without cable news hits, it’s tougher to get book deals and consulting gigs, or to position oneself for work in a future administration. Next thing you know, you’ll see these very important men living in cardboard boxes under a bridge.”

While some of the signatories of the letter disagree with Brennan’s political attacks on Trump, they noted that “conscience demands that one know upon which side one’s bread is buttered. Face it: without security clearances, we’re all just asterisks in the history books.”