Trump National Security Chief 'Inappropriately Shared' Secrets

He gave foreign officers CIA Afghanistan info
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 15, 2016 1:35 AM CST
Updated Dec 15, 2016 3:03 AM CST
Trump National Security Chief 'Inappropriately Shared' Secrets
Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's national security adviser pick, gets on an elevator after arriving at Trump Tower last month.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The man Donald Trump has selected to be his top national security adviser "inappropriately shared" classified information with military officers from friendly countries while he was serving in Afghanistan. According to Army documents obtained by the Washington Post under a Freedom of Information Act request, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn was investigated in 2010 after a Navy intelligence officer complained that he had shared secrets with "various foreign military officers and/or officials in Afghanistan." Sources tell the Post that Flynn, who has admitted being investigated for sharing information with British and Australian officers, shared material with classified information about CIA operations in Afghanistan.

Flynn wasn't disciplined over the security breach because it wasn't done knowingly and "there was no actual or potential damage to national security as a result," according to the Army documents. The Hill notes that Flynn said earlier this year that he wasn't ashamed of "sharing intelligence in combat with our closest allies" and that the investigation found he had the correct clearances—which does not appear to have been the case. The Post reports that at this year's Republican National Convention, Flynn, who retired from the military in 2014, led chants of "lock her up" after attacking Hillary Clinton for using a private email server. "If I, a guy who knows this business, if I did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today," he said. (More Michael Flynn stories.)

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