November Midterms: Meet the Former CIA Agents Running for Congress as Democrats
SputnikNews.com
17.04.2018
In the November 2018 midterm elections, a vast number of former intelligence and military operatives are running for Democratic party nominations across the US. If even just a few are successful in their bids, military-intelligence personnel will comprise the country’s legislature like never before. Here are some of the most prominent.
In all, 57 individuals running for Democratic nomination in 44 congressional districts have intelligence and/or military backgrounds. If projections of a Democrat ‘Spring’ are fulfilled and their candidates sweep the board November 6, perhaps as much as 50 percent of the party’s new lawmakers could be drawn from America’s shadowy military-intelligence nexus.
While the potential figures involved are staggering in the first instance, it’s also notable how unashamedly candidates boast of their time spent toiling in the US parapolitical underbelly on their candidacy websites. Previously, such employment history would typically be suppressed, or at least unmentioned.
For instance, while President, George H. W. Bush never publicly discussed his time spent as CIA Director, and questions still abound as to how long he worked for the Agency — and what his duties included.
No such reservations are evident today, however, with numerous candidates directly referencing their service in campaigns and periods that would’ve included drone warfare, torture, targeted assassination, extraordinary rendition and other controversial activities on foreign soil.
Droning On and On
In some primary races, more than one candidate is drawn from the military-intelligence sphere. For instance, in Virginia’s seventh congressional district, veteran Marine Corps pilot Dan Ward is vying with Abigail Spanberger, a CIA employee of almost ten years standing, for the Democratic nomination.
While with the Agency, she “traveled and lived abroad collecting intelligence, managing assets, and overseeing high-profile programs.” This experience allegedly taught her “the value of listening.”
Similarly, in New York’s 19th district, Jeffrey Beals is battling Patrick Ryan. Beals is a former CIA intelligence officer, who went on to become a diplomat to Iraq during the bloody American occupation. By his own admission, he helped craft the country’s controversial constitution, and was decorated by both the Army and State Department for his efforts.
While there, he may have crossed paths with Ryan, who himself served two tours in Iraq, one of which as “lead intelligence officer for an infantry battalion of 1,000 soldiers and officers responsible for ground operations in Mosul.”
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