President-elect Donald Trump will be blamed for terrorist attacks on the U.S. if he skips regular intelligence briefings, former CIA Director Leon Panetta warned Wednesday.
“I’ve seen presidents who have asked questions about whether intelligence is verifiable, what are the sources for that intelligence, but I have never seen a president who said, ‘I don’t want that stuff,’” Panetta said during the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai, according to Reuters.
{mosads}“If we endure another attack and the intelligence officials had indications or information regarding that attack and the president did not want to listen to that, for whatever reason, the responsibility for that attack would fall on the president,” added Panetta, who also served as President Obama’s Defense secretary from 2011 to 2013.
Trump on Sunday rejected criticism for reportedly getting intelligence briefings only once a week.
“I get it when I need it,” he told Fox News. “First of all, these are very good people that are giving me the briefings. And I say, ‘If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on one-minute’s notice.’
“I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t need to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. I don’t need that.”