July 1, 2016

Brexit crisis contributing to 'daunting' US security challenges, CIA director says

John Brennan insists cooperation with MI6 in fight against terrorism will not be interrupted but suggests EU will now be preoccupied with UK departure

CIA director John Brennan: ‘I have never been witnessing a time with such a daunting array of challenges to our nation’s security.

David Smith in Washington

Wednesday 29 June 2016 17.53 EDT Last modified on Thursday 30 June 2016 04.15 EDT

The US is facing its most daunting national security challenge in a generation after the European Union was plunged into “crisis” by Britain’s vote to leave, the head of the CIA warned on Wednesday.

John Brennan insisted that Brexit would not undermine cooperation with MI6 in the fight against terrorism, but suggested that the EU, a bulwark of peace and stability since the fall of the Berlin wall, would now be preoccupied with the UK’s departure.

“In the 36 years since I first entered government, I have never been witnessing a time with such a daunting array of challenges to our nation’s security,” Brennan told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington . “Notable among those challenges is that some of the institutions and relationships that have been pillars of the post-cold war international system are under serious stress.

“Of all the crises the EU has faced in recent years, the UK vote to leave the EU may well be its greatest challenge. Brexit is pushing the EU into a period of introspection that will pervade virtually everything the EU does in the coming weeks, months and even years ahead,” he said.

Warning of a potential knock-on effect, Brennan added: “Eurosceptics in Europe, including in Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands, are demanding their own referendums on multiple EU issues. This will surely make decision-making and forging consensus in the EU much harder.”

No member state has ever left the union before, so Europe is entering “a period of uncertainty” as the UK and the EU begin staking out their negotiating positions, the CIA director said. “Discussions about how an exit will work will dominate the EU agenda in the months ahead.”

But Brennan was also at pains to say that the US-UK intelligence partnership would not be adversely affected, noting the EU has not been a structural element of the counter-terrorism operation. “Indeed, I spoke to my counterpart in London early Monday morning and we reaffirmed to one another that the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our services are only destined to grow stronger in the years ahead. These ties are and will always be essential to our collective security.”

Some in Washington are said to be hopeful that, free of its EU obligations, the UK might offer an even greater commitment to the US on security matters. Much is likely to depend on the outcome of the contest to determine the next British prime minister , however.

During the hour-long forum, Brennan said he would be surprised if Islamic State were not plotting attacks within the US and against American targets abroad.

His comments came hours after a three suicide bombers killed 41 people and injured more than 200 others at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport. Brennan, using an acronym for Isis, said the attacks “have the hallmarks of Isil depravity”, though he was not aware of a “credible claim of responsibility at this point”.

But he noted that “in most instances – if not all – Isil has not claimed responsibility for attacks that are perpetrated inside of Turkey”.

Denying that he differed from Barack Obama on dealing with the terrorist threat, Brennan added: “I don’t think we should ever get used to it. I think what we have to do is redouble our efforts to try to uncover what they are doing, stop them in terms of carrying out these attacks, but also go the source of it, which is those who are directing and orchestrating these attacks.”

And referring to the recent massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a man who pledged allegiance to Isis, Brennan noted the “real challenge” facing the FBI in stopping lone wolves who might be influenced by the internet and be able obtain weapons easily and carry out an attack before the usual “signatures” of a terrorist plot can be detected.

Turning to the conflict in Syria, Brennan said there would be no way forward on the political front without active Russian cooperation. “We believe firmly that Assad is part of the problem, he’s not part of the solution,” he said.

Click on Link:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/john-brennan-cia-brexit-crisis-eu