John Ratcliffe: Afghanistan ‘most profound loss for the United States certainly in our lifetime’

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America's greatest national security threat is Joe Biden: Former DNI Ratcliffe

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe discusses Biden's presidency, the administration's Afghanistan exit and its impact on the future of U.S. national security.

Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe spoke with Mark Levin on the impact President Joe Biden had from his failure on Afghanistan.

Ratcliffe appeared on "Life, Liberty & Levin" Sunday where Levin asked him about the impact the loss of Afghanistan will have on the United States.

"I hope that it's just something that has an impact for decades. I hope it's not centuries," Ratcliffe said. It's the most profound loss for the United States certainly in our lifetime."

"But one of my concerns there - and this goes to your larger question about what has Joe Biden done to our national security - he's very clearly harmed it, but in so many respects beyond Afghanistan. But this most recent, most painful, colossal failure in Afghanistan has literally breathed life into the radical Islamic terrorist movement, not just in Afghanistan, but around the world."

Ratcliffe subsequently defended the intelligence team, stating that Biden "abandoned" their original plan to only withdrew under certain conditions.

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"Our intelligence was crystal clear about what was going to happen in Afghanistan if we withdrew without conditions based on terms that we had negotiated. And when Biden abandoned that plan, it went exactly to what we said was going to happen. And that is, unfortunately, a trend that has continued where this administration and this national security apparatus keeps making bad decisions, keeps ignoring the actual intelligence that we have. And honestly, nothing concerns me more right now," Ratcliffe said.
 

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Ratcliffe also added that while he considered China to be "our number one national security threat," the real lasting damage has come primarily from Biden and his administration.

"[The Biden administration] have literally gotten everything wrong for eight straight months with respect to China, with respect to Russia, with respect to Iran, with respect throughout the Middle East now, including Afghanistan, it goes on and on. Literally, they're batting zero. They're striking out at every turn. And it's having a profound, grave impact on our national security and our national security posture," Ratcliffe said.

"Did you in your lifetime ever think you'd see a president, the United States, who was, in my view, so cavalier about leaving Americans in enemy territory?" Levin asked.

Ratcliffe responded "no," but added that there’s also concern surrounding who’s working with Biden.

"You know, there's a real question about whether Joe Biden is the person making these decisions --- and, if not, who is? But what we know is he's not surrounded by anyone that's gotten anything right. And so that is the concern. But Afghanistan is just the latest episode of what we've seen, where the commander in chief is demonstrating cowardice on a national stage to our allies and to our adversaries."

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"[O]ur ability to even conduct the best intelligence around the world has been impacted. This is the ripple effect that this is going to have everywhere and know it. It is something that I, you know, again, I never expected to see and God help us," Ratcliffe said.