Story highlights John Kirby: Trump's recent John Bolton retweet about Obama not believing in national missile defense is completely inaccurate

Obama did a lot to ensure our nation's safety by taking a layered approach to missile defenses across continents, he writes

CNN National Security Analyst John Kirby is a retired rear admiral in the US Navy who served as a spokesman for both the state and defense departments in the Obama administration. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) On Thursday, President Donald Trump told reporters that, despite the threat from North Korea, "The people of this country should be very comfortable. The people of our country are safe."

However, this follows Trump's ominous retweet of Ambassador John Bolton on Wednesday, who wrote: "Our country & civilians are vulnerable today because @BarackObama did not believe in national missile defense. Let's never forget that."

John Kirby

This tweet in completely inaccurate. We are not as vulnerable as Bolton implies, and Obama did quite a lot to shore up our defenses against a possible attack.

But let's unpack this further.

First, our commander in chief is basically saying that he has little confidence in our nation's missile defense. One supposes Trump could earn brownie points here for candor. But it's difficult to see, especially in light of the threats coming from Pyongyang, how this sort of candor serves the national interest. Kim Jong Un is probably delighted to hear Trump thinks we are vulnerable.