Tom Friedman: Michael Flynn "Took Down Al-Qaeda In Iraq," Is "One Of The Most Intelligent Intelligence Officers"

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman praises Donald Trump's pick for National Security Adviser, but hedges his position, saying that Flynn's recent tweets show he has changed since he knew him. Flynn has been criticized for a tweet he made saying that fear of Islam was "rational."





THOMAS FRIEDMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: I have seen General Flynn in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Washington at the DIA. I don't know the General Flynn who has been tweeting.



But I had many encounters with him, or several in his job as one of the most intelligent intelligent officers that we have had. He and Stan McCrystal together created the killing machine that took down al-Qaeda in Iraq. They did it in an amazing way, leveraging big data.



They would take down a terrorist leader, take his computer and cell phone and pour it into a computer, find all the links and do one raid and another and another. I don't know this Mike Flynn but that Mike Flynn is a serious, intelligent guy... the old Mike Flynn [is definitely qualified to be National Security Advisor]. I don't know the new Mike Flynn.