Ray McGovern

Three years ago, when a reluctant President Barack Obama was about to launch an attack on Syria, supposedly in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad crossing a “red line” against using chemical weapons, Obama smelled a rat – or rather he sensed a mousetrap. Advised by some of his intelligence advisers that the evidence blaming the … Continue reading “When Putin Bailed Out Obama”

On Aug. 17, TV interviewer Charlie Rose gave former acting CIA Director Michael Morell a “mulligan” for an earlier wayward drive on Aug. 8 that sliced deep into the rough and even stirred up some nonviolent animals by advocating the murder of Russians and Iranians. But, alas, Morell duffed the second drive, too. Morell did … Continue reading “A Lawless Plan To Target Syria’s Allies”

Perhaps former CIA acting director Michael Morell’s shamefully provocative rhetoric toward Russia and Iran will prove too unhinged even for Hillary Clinton. It appears equally likely that it will succeed in earning him a senior job in a possible Clinton administration, so it behooves us to have a closer look at Morell’s record. My initial … Continue reading “Mike Morell’s Kill-Russians Advice”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a legal pickle over her careless email practices – in that she appears to have endangered national security secrets including the identity of covert CIA officers and done so for selfish reasons (personal convenience or keeping her documents out of reach of transparency laws). The facts of … Continue reading “Will Hillary Clinton Get Favored Treatment?”

State Department functionaries faced a hopeless task as they tried to spin their own Inspector General’s matter-of-fact critique of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s imperial attitude toward basic security measures everyone else is required by law to follow. It turns out that she deliberately chose to use a hacker-friendly, unprotected email server, and not … Continue reading “Clinton’s Imperious Brush-Off of Email Rules”

Fr. Daniel Berrigan’s funeral was being live-streamed Friday, as I started to write this, which seems only fitting. Dan’s witness and writing have been a constantly rechargeable battery for my moral compass. Live-streaming (arranged by America magazine) was the next-best thing to being at the funeral in person. And it brought back memories of getting … Continue reading “Price for Witnessing Against War”

“Some people think they can lie and get away with it,” said former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with feigned outrage. And, of course, he has never been held accountable for his lies, proving his dictum true. The question today is: Will former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Teflon coat be as impermeable to deep scratches … Continue reading “A Need To Clear Up Clinton Questions”

A few weeks after leaving office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have breathed a sigh of relief and reassurance when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied reports of the National Security Agency eavesdropping on Americans. After all, Clinton had been handling official business at the State Department like many Americans do with … Continue reading “Hillary Clinton’s Damning Emails”

“Enough of the emails,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders in Brooklyn-ese, while turning to Secretary Hillary Clinton during their first debate on Oct. 13, 2015. Sanders won loud applause for what seemed a gentlemanly gesture in withholding criticism for her use of a private email server for classified information. But when Sanders said “The American people … Continue reading “Is Hillary Clinton Above the Law?”

On a recent TV appearance, I was asked about whistleblowing, but the experience brought back to mind a crystal-clear example of how, before the Iraq War, CIA careerists were assigned “two bosses” – CIA Director George Tenet and John Bolton, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, the arch-neocon who had … Continue reading “How an Iran War Was Averted”