President Trump reignited controversy about Russia recently by declaring he believes that its president, Vladimir Putin, is sincere when he asserts that Moscow did not interfere in last year’s presidential election. The director of the C.I.A., Mike Pompeo, made similarly confounding remarks last month when he said that Russia’s campaign had failed to affect the outcome of the election, misrepresenting the formal judgment of the intelligence community. A C.I.A. spokesman later said that Mr. Pompeo had misspoken.

As former C.I.A. officers, we find both of those comments deeply troubling. But another, less noticed remark by Mr. Pompeo was equally disturbing. He said that agency officers have an obligation to remain quiet about their work for a period that “far extends beyond the day you turn in your badge.” Even if his ire was trained primarily at specific outspoken former intelligence community leaders, his message to all former C.I.A. officers was clear: Stop speaking out.

Our response to him is this: Respectfully, we won’t. As former C.I.A. officers, we would like to explain why we have decided to speak out about the troubling state of our country’s leadership and the dangerous implications for our national security.

Two of us served as analysts focused on counterterrorism and broader security issues, while another of us was an operations officer for nearly three decades. Each of us served under presidents of both parties, and we all left the C.I.A. at different times and for different reasons. We fall on various points of the political spectrum, but at least one element unites us: We joined the C.I.A. because of our love of country and desire to protect the ideals upon which it was founded.