William H. McRaven, 63, is a retired United States Navy admiral who was nominated by Barack Obama to be the 9th commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command (2011-2014). After he retired from the military, McRaven was the chancellor of the University of Texas system (2015-2018).

In August 2018, McRaven penned an open letter in The Washington Post entitled “Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President,” in which the craven retired admiral castigated President Trump for revoking former Obama Administration CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance. McRaven praised Brennan, a crypto Muslim who once voted for the Communist Party, as “a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question”. The retired Obama-nominee admiral then scolded President Trump that through his actions, Trump had “embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.” Never mind the fact that Trump’s revocation of Brennan’s security clearance was in August 2018, one-and-a-half-years after the unceasing efforts by Democrats and “never-Trump” Republicans to divide America with their opposition and even threats of assassination against a duly-elected sitting President.

Most recently, on October 17, 2019, McRaven poison-penned an op-ed in The New York Times with the hysterical headline, “Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President,” bellowing that if Trump did not demonstrate leadership, the sooner he is replaced, the better. In a CNN interview the same day, McRaven said Trump was undermining domestic institutions and damaging America’s international standing because of the President’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria.

Below is an Open Letter to McRaven, dated August 17, 2018, from Ray Starmann, the editor-in-chief of U.S. Defense Watch, former U.S. Army captain and intelligence officer, and combat veteran of the 7th Cavalry:

Dear Admiral McRaven:

Your op-ed yesterday, which was picked up by every liberal media outlet in the country, was sadly indicative of the current state of mind of many of our nation’s recently retired and active duty senior military leaders.

You stated that former CIA director John Brennan, “is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.”

The man whom you describe as being a cross between George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa is a deep state hack; who, along with other Obama holdouts, is openly and aggressively pursuing a coup d’etat against the current President of the United States, for one reason and one reason only – his side lost the election.

Frankly, I can’t think of any actions that are more un-American, and against the values that Americans hold dear and that which so many Americans died for in the past.

What you call unparalleled integrity, I call honest to goodness treason.

Former CIA director Brennan, whom you state has honesty and character authorized the CIA to spy on American citizens, tried to rig a Presidential election and then lied to Congress about that spying. A man you claim has unparalleled integrity was caught fabricating stories about attacks on US personnel in Libya and providing weapons to ISIS backed militias in Syria.

Mr. Brennan also voted once for a communist candidate. How Mr. Brennan was hired as DCI after voting for a communist and why you support a man who once did, is a mystery to everyone but you and God.

Former members of the special operations community do not share your adoration for Mr. Brennan. Kris “Tanto” Paronto, a former Army Ranger and private security contractor who was part of the CIA team that fought back during the 2012 Benghazi terror attack, accused Brennan of putting his “politics” before those in the field.

On Twitter, Paronto stated: “My principles are greater than clearances too John Brennan, especially when you and the @CIA kool-aid drinkers punishes us for not going along with the Benghazi cover-up story in order to protect you, @HillaryClinton’s & @BarackObama’s failures. You put your politics before us.”

Mr. Brennan was recently referred to by retired Army Brigadier General Anthony Tata as a ‘clear and present danger’ to the nation.

No doubt John Brennan’s complete absence of integrity and his erratic behavior are what convinced the President to revoke his clearance. Mr. Brennan stated that “Trump’s … performance in Helsinki, exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was … treasonous.”

In a recent article, Pat Buchanan stated that had Brennan made the same accusations of treason against former President Andrew Jackson, ‘he would have been challenged to a duel and shot.’

As you know sir, on the security clearance form, Question 29 reads, ‘have you ever supported overthrowing the U.S. Government?’

I think it’s more than apparent, from his nightly rantings on CNN to his Twitter expletives that John Brennan supports over-throwing the President and the current cabinet members of the US government.

You also wrote, sir, in reference to the President, “Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation,”

Actually, Admiral, the only person who has humiliated the US on the world stage in the last decade is Barack Hussein Obama. During the eight years of the Obama administrations, the world watched as the US cow-towed to Iranian thugs, let the Chinese run rings around us in the Pacific, while ISIS murdered tens of thousands of innocent people in the Middle East. Believe me, Admiral, the children of Syria and Iraq are rejoicing in their liberation from ISIS mass murderers. And, the people of the Middle East and across the world are sleeping soundly tonight, knowing that an incompetent, narcissistic maniac like Hillary Clinton isn’t sitting in the Oval Office.

As far as the nation’s current political schism, you need only look at your fellow liberals who are inciting violence and propagating hatred on a daily basis.

You then dared the Commander in Chief to revoke your security clearance.

I’m sure you’re aware of the following regulation in the UCMJ. Retired military officers are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) under Article 2 of the UCMJ, which extends the jurisdiction of military law to “Retired members of a regular component of the armed forces who are entitled to pay.” “Retirees are subject to the UCMJ and may be tried by court-martial for violations … that occurred … while in a retired status.”

Article 88 of the UCMJ criminalizes “contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State.”

Something to ponder, sir.

No doubt your op-ed was designed to whip up some more anti-Trump hysteria and to usher you into the political arena. No doubt you are a serving member of the ‘resistance.’ No doubt, you have your eyes on some office space in the capitol building or in the White House. No doubt, you have your eyes on the prize, all at the expense of the nation you once served.

When I read your op-ed, sir, I wondered where and when and why you went wrong. How does someone from a military family, a SEAL, who came of age in the Reagan years; someone who understands what it’s like to be on a team; the camaraderie, the toughness mentally and physically required; someone who grew up reading about people like Patton, MacArthur, Lee, Grant, Teddy Roosevelt and Hal Moore- How does a guy like that end up aligning himself with the party of Pelosi, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, and slime like Hillary who was chanting baby killer back at Wellesley, and “too gutless to serve, I hate the military” Bill…?

How does a guy like you still support the destructive policies of Obama, and furthermore, how does a guy like you support Brennan, when you know damned well Brennan was a communist, and that he perjured himself in front of Congress, how does that happen?

You, sir, are representative of what is, in my opinion, as a former Army Captain and combat veteran of the 7th Cavalry, the worst generation of senior leaders this nation has ever fielded. Bar None. The majority of you, were and are what the late Colonel David Hackworth so eloquently described as ‘perfumed princes.’

It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have; how many combat tours you did and how much fruit salad you earned. It doesn’t matter that you have the SEAL Trident.

Your generation of senior leaders sold and is selling out the nation’s defense to the highest bidder and that bidder is social engineering and leftist ideology. You and your generation of leftist senior leaders have allowed our military to be destroyed for the greater glory of pensions, Tricare and political power, national security be damned. Now, that you’ve overseen the decimation of our military, you are determined to overthrow a sitting President because he represents everything anathema to the left – America First and the fact that the USA IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.

You are all nothing more than political hacks; Obama leftists fighting some kind of insurgent anti-Trump campaign like a division of crazed left-wing fanatics holed up in the Beltway National Redoubt, waiting for a last op order from der Fuehrer, Barack Hussein Obama.

I believe sir, that you need to examine your conscience and ask yourself one very important question – what in the name of God Almighty would Hillary Clinton have done for anyone in this country?

The answer is nothing.

Ray Starmann

Editor in Chief

US Defense Watch