(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Former President John F. Kennedy threatened to “splinter [the CIA] into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds” before he was assassinated in 1963. JFK’s nephew, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., wants something perhaps less dramatic.
In a Trump campaign event with Tulsi Gabbard on Saturday, RFK explained his idea for reforming the CIA. According to him, reforming the CIA is as simple as splintering the “espionage” and “plans” divisions, which handle matters of intelligence and paramilitary operations, respectively. Those divisions are referred to today as the Directorate of Intelligence and Directorate of Operations.
RFK said the two divisions need to be reorganized so the intelligence/espionage area has oversight of the paramilitary operations. He said his father had a similar plan when he was Attorney General.
“My father had a reform plan … Break up espionage division from the plans division, which is paramilitary division that fixes elections, buys newspapers, assassinates foreign leaders and so on,” he said.
“I would break up those divisions and … put espionage division oversight of plans division.”
RFK Jr. explained his plan for reforming the CIA at a campaign event we attended Saturday.
He also revealed that he recently had dinner with former CIA director Mike Pompeo — saying he doesn't like Pompeo but admires him. pic.twitter.com/N2I89JLJea— Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) October 29, 2024
Such a plan may seem tepid for a man who’s accused the CIA of being involved in the murder of his uncle. But RFK’s been surprisingly cordial with the agency. His daughter-in-law and campaign manager, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, was a CIA officer for 10 years.
RFK also revealed at Saturday’s campaign event in North Carolina that he had dinner with former Trump-era CIA Director Mike Pompeo. RFK called Pompeo a “neocon” and said he disagreed with him on many policies, but also said he admired him, calling the former agency director brilliant.
RFK said Pompeo told him that “The worst mistake of my public lie was not fixing CIA. I could have but I didn’t do it.”
“The entire upper echelon of that agency is made of individuals who don’t believe in the institutions of the United States of America,” RFK said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
