Information security

David Ignatius: Ex-spy chiefs are speaking up ... carefully

Richard Helms, the godfather of modern CIA directors, prided himself on keeping his mouth shut in public. He was delighted that his 1979 biography by Thomas Powers had the starchy title “The Man Who Kept the Secrets.”

But that was then. In today’s media-driven world, former intelligence chiefs appear so regularly on cable television that they probably need agents (not the trench-coated variety) to negotiate their contracts. Five recent directors or acting directors — John McLaughlin, Michael Hayden, Leon Panetta, Michael Morell and John Brennan — all provide regular television commentary. So does James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence.

These “formers,” as they sometimes describe themselves, are some of America’s wisest experts on intelligence issues. They offer viewers valuable information and rebut inflammatory, inaccurate comments from President Donald Trump. They don’t share secrets any more than Helms did. But it must be said that the formers have strayed rather far from the old patrician advice: “Never complain, never explain.”