HHS Students Meet Former CIA Director Michael Hayden

Katia with Grandpa Mike

Mr. Hayden discussed his book Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror and recent events concerning the CIA and the Trump Administration. This discussion took place on March 8th, 2017.

Zaynab- I am a Somali American. Should I be concerned about the Trump administration?  ANSWER- We all should be concerned with the Trump administration, ha, ha. But I did not like his initial travel ban and his new one isn't much better.

Emma- We know you were head of the CIA but you had a long career serving our country prior to your work with the CIA. What would you to share about that part of your life? ANSWER- I never left Pittsburgh until I was 18 years old. I served all over the U.S. and the world when I was in the Air Force. I lived in Washington D.C, many different states, and different countries including Germany and Bulgaria. The world is much smaller now thanks to these things (cell phones).

Andrea (left front)- You have been critical of President Trump but if he asked you to sit on an intelligence panel or something related to national security would you accept? ANSWER- When a president asks you to serve it's hard to say no. But I don't know about Trump.

Nathan- Regarding the possibility of a "very rocky ride" for your family*, did it ever come to that? Did your wife or your children ever have to deal with your decisions?  ANSWER- No, but my wife was on board if it did come to that. *Concern that if some CIA info were discovered it might not reflect well on Hayden or even possibility of legal problems.

Luna- If I was standing at the Lincoln Memorial and called someone and said "I have a bomb and I'm going to attack the White House" would the Stellarwind program or something similar catch that? ANSWER- No. (Hayden went on to described how they could eventually prevent attacks like that.)

Chelsea- What is your sense of the Russia/Trump story? A serious concern or no big deal?  ANSWER- I firmly believe that due to Russia's sour relations with Hillary Clinton, that nation took actions during the election in favor of Trump. However, now that Trump is officially President of the United States, Russia's next course of action is up in the air. Russians may have even been surprised at Trump's election, and now plan to utilize him at their "useful fool."

Joe- I am holding a copy of the "Top Secret August 1, 2002 memo for John Rizzo, interrogation of Al Qaeda operative." Should someone like me be holding this? ANSWER- Yes. Classification was necessary at that time but people need to know what their government is doing. It helps people like me understand what people like you want.

Evan- The U.S. law against torture states "severe mental pain or suffering means the prolonged mental harm caused by the intentional infliction of severe physical pain or suffering." One of the approved enhanced interrogation techniques included sleep deprivation of not more than eleven days. Eleven days without sleep is not considered torture? ANSWER- The Department of Justice gave guidelines on how long to sleep deprive. That technique was one of the most successful of our techniques. We did sleep deprive one person for just over four days. But remember we did that to save American lives.

Hiba (left)- Did you ever listen to the conversations that would result in targeted killings and subsequent grieving family members and if so what was that like? ANSWER- I didn't but I talked to the analysts who did. It was very difficult for them. They become the unseen member of the family and they mourn for the families. Those people start building unintentional relationships, so their job is tough.

Nick- Mr. Graney demonstrated the enhanced interrogation techniques including the attention grasp, walling and facial slap. Those techniques seemed so minor. Why did agents needs permission to do those?  ANSWER- we always needed permission no matter how light the interrogation was.

David- When President Bush gave his speech defending the CIA's program for detaining and interrogating Al Qaeda, you wrote about family members of those killed on 9/11 attending the speech. Did any of those family members not support the approach of you and President Bush?  ANSWER- They sat in the front row. They had tears in their eyes. They all supported President Bush. 

Trang- As you look at Mr. Graney's presidential bobbleheads would you mind telling us who you served under and what you thought about them? ANSWER- below.

President Bush is an active and funny man; he was fond of the CIA and I had the most in common with him. I went to BBQ party, in Texas with him, he's a gracious man. 

President Bill Clinton surprised when he, a Democrat, nominated me, a Republican, as his Director of the National Security Agency. I knew Hillary when she was Secretary of State.

Despite many criticisms, President Bush II was an interesting and respectful man. I was closest to that president. He chose me to be Director of the CIA. He invited my wife and I to Camp David. He was very good in small groups.

I did not serve long under President Barack Obama, but he was a respectful man who was dedicated to his country. He always did what he thought was best for America and him and his wife Michelle and their daughters are wonderful people.

I did not have any direct contact with President Trump but I've heard  he is a respectful, good listener in his small group talk despite his generally fierce speech. 

Katie- Did Iran ever acknowledge that the U.S. disabled a thousand centrifuges at their Natanz facility? Did they know the U.S. did that? ANSWER- It's never been disclosed who did that.....

Marvin- Do you have any inside info you could share with us regarding the stories of the CIA leaking negative information about President Trump? Would CIA people do that?  ANSWER- I have my doubts but I can't definitively say.

Haley- Former Vice-President Cheney was critical of President Obama when he revoked President Bush's executive order of July 20, 2007. After 9/11 there were no major terrorist attacks during the Bush or Obama administrations. Was Cheney wrong about Obama? Was Obama lucky? ANSWER- Obama stopped some Bush policies but adopted most of them. We explained to him what we could do and he embraced that. When Obama spoke at his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and the only reason he won that was because he wasn't Bush and Obama was embarrassed about that, but when he spoke he gave the moral justification for war. They thought they were trading Bush for Obama but what they got was America with Bush and America with Obama.

Second Semester Current Affairs Class

First Semester Current Affairs Class

Sujata (left of Hayden)- Even though you are not running the CIA do you still it as "September 12th, 2001?"  ANSWER- Yes, but not as much as when I was Director. There is still a part of me that thinks that way.