#something of a surprise. perhaps it was because she appeared to retire relatively early (certainly well before her husband of many years‚

[mariocki]

RIP Sarah Lawson (6.8.1928 - 18.8.2023)

"[Acting] on the stage, oh, very important. It keeps you in touch with an audience, and if you're away from the theatre too long, you forget about your audience, and you forget about just how much they like you and how much they don't. We try to do a play a year, if we can, but it's a bit difficult."

[lady-hammerlock]

Like a Church on Fire - Chapter Two (The Outer Worlds - Millsoto )

AN: Chapter two is here! The full story is available under the cut. Keep in mind that this story contains NSFW content.

CHAPTER TWO

Max had secretly been hoping that Felix would offer to accompany him and the scientists to Stellar Bay, but he hadn’t wanted to presume, and he certainly hadn’t wanted to ask Felix and potentially pull him away from whatever responsibilities he had in Amber Heights. No doubt he was an important member of the community.

The night before Max had retired early, claiming tiredness, which wasn’t a complete lie. However, he had mostly retired because the couple of drinks that he’d had were enough to make him feel just relaxed and open enough that he could no longer trust himself not to say something inappropriate to Felix. Just seeing the younger man had been enough to bring back a flood of emotions that had threatened to overwhelm Max in those couple of hours that they had spent together.

He had to keep telling himself that Felix was not his to cherish. They had made their decision to go their separate ways along with the rest of the Unreliable crew, although Max couldn’t remember the two of them ever discussing it. If Felix ever did indicate that he wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with Max then Max would give himself to Felix in a heartbeat, but until that moment came he needed to keep his distance and not get too caught up in what was nothing more than a couple of nights of sex and more than a couple of months of pining on his part.

Still, when he and the scientists gathered together the next morning and met the small group of men and women who would be escorting them to Stellar Bay, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw Felix standing among them.

He caught the younger man’s eyes for a moment and his heart felt like it was glowing when Felix returned his smile.

Max was glad that the two of them wouldn’t have to say goodbye again just yet.

--

The wilds of Monarch certainly hadn’t grown any less dangerous in the last two years, but the road between Amber Heights and Stellar Bay had been made a little safer, automatic defences being erected and protective walls having been constructed in the areas where animal attacks tended to be more prevalent. The road was seeing a lot more use these days after all, as trade and diplomacy flowed backwards and forwards between MSI in Stellar Bay and the Iconoclasts in Amber Heights.

Felix tried to remember what the area had looked like when he and the rest of the crew of the Unreliable had landed on Monarch for the first time, and was amazed in retrospect by how much progress they had managed to make in what had only been two years.

The journey to Stellar Bay ended up being a relatively quick one, and, from what Max had told him of his and the scientists’ journey from Cascadia, comparatively safe. Aside from a small pack of canids that had managed to wander onto the road, and a gang of marauders that had to be insane and/or desperate to attack a group so much larger than their own, the trip north was relatively peaceful.

Felix lingered near the back of the group with Max, under the pretext of watching over the rest of them, but in reality just wanting to be close to the older man for just a little while longer. He felt like he couldn’t stop smiling, and, judging by the fact that Max spent most of the journey with a smile on his face as well, it was contagious.

Felix’s smile only disappeared when they were fending off the marauders or the canids, and then, when they finally reached the walls of Stellar Bay. He accompanied Max to the MSI building where the scientists were to meet with Sanjar and the rest of their new team, while the rest of the Iconoclasts headed to the nearest bar for a few drinks.

Sanjar Nandi was just as awkward and prone to rambling as Felix remembered. When he realised that the MSI leader intended to give the scientists and Max a full tour of the new facilities before letting them get on with their work, he leaned over to Max with as much subtlety as he could manage.

“Meet you at Left Field later?” Felix asked, knowing that the other Iconoclasts would have headed to the Yacht Club, and wanting a location with a little more intimacy. He hoped that Max remembered the tossball bar from their time on the Unreliable.

Max nodded.

“Hopefully we won’t be too much longer,” he whispered, sharing a brief smile with Felix before the younger man slipped out.

--

“Here you go,” Nell said as she passed Felix’s drink to him.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling at Left Field’s owner and nursing the drink in front of him for a while before taking a sip.

Nell’s attention quickly returned to the tossball game that was currently being broadcast into her little establishment. Felix tried to pay attention to the game as well, or to his drink, but his heart just wasn’t in it.

He could remember having a crush on Nell when he had first met her. After all, she was cute, and friendly, and she liked tossball even more than Felix did. How could he not have a crush on her?

It was all still true. Nell was still attractive, and she still loved tossball, and yet Felix couldn’t even get himself to focus on her for more than a couple of seconds.

His mind was too preoccupied with Max; with what their reunion might mean, and with how he was going to bring himself to say goodbye to the other man when he left Monarch.

One drink turned into two while Felix waited for the older man to show, although he made sure that the second was just a bottle of purpleberry punch. The last thing that he wanted was to get drunk and end up making a fool out of himself like he had when he had crawled into Max’s bunk.

The memory of that disastrous night had him chugging his purpleberry punch and wishing that it was something a little stronger.

He had just put the half-empty bottle down on the bar in front of him when he heard someone else enter through the front door, and sure enough, when he turned around Max was standing there and smiling at him.

“Apologies for taking so long,” he told Felix. “I wanted to make sure that the scientists were all settled in and had my contact information if they ever needed my assistance again, and then Master Nandi wanted to talk to me, specifically.”

“Then I’m surprised you were able to get out as soon as you did,” Felix said with a grin, before gesturing to the barstool beside him. “Come on. Let me buy you a drink.”

Luckily the tossball broadcast gave them something to talk about that was relatively safe, and before long they were joking and teasing each other as though no time at all had passed.

“And of course you still support the Rangers,” Max said with a smile and a gentle shake of his head.

“Of course,” Felix said. “I mean, I supported them when they were the underdogs. You think I’m going to give up on them now that they’ve actually started winning? Come on Max, you just don’t want to admit that I was right the whole time. I told you they had potential.”

--

Max couldn’t help but smile as Felix boasted about his beloved tossball team. The younger man’s new life obviously suited him. He seemed to be glowing these days, and Max found himself momentarily distracted by the curve of Felix’s smile and the fullness of his lips.

He tore his eyes away from Felix’s mouth and concentrated instead on the purpleberry wine in his glass, swirling the liquid around and trying to pretend that its deep magenta hue was of more interest to him than Felix’s beauty.

Max lifted the glass to his mouth, downed its contents in one go and summoned his courage. Part of him still insisted that he was making a mistake; that he shouldn’t force things and should just enjoy the time that he and Felix were spending together, but he also knew that if he didn’t make a move now then he would always wonder what would have happened if he did, and at the very least he knew that if everything went wrong and he made things irreparably awkward between himself and Felix, then he would be able to leave Stellar Bay the very next day.

“MSI have set aside a rather elaborate bedroom suite that they insist I take for the night,” Max said, feeling more than a little nervous as he did. He knew how Felix felt about certain people receiving privileges beyond those of their fellow man purely because of their station in life, and hoped that this did not fall under that category in Felix’s eyes. “One of the privileges of being a vicar I suppose.”

Felix shrugged.

“Could be they’re just grateful because you’ve been helping out,” Felix suggested.

Neither of them suggested that it was because of Max’s fame as a crew member of the Unreliable. If that was the case then surely MSI would have found such a room for Felix as well.

“Perhaps,” Max said. “Regardless, I am telling you this because I was wondering whether you might wish to join me?”

He noticed the widening of Felix’s eyes and quickly backtracked to fix his error.

“It is not my intention to implicate anything,” he amended. “You don’t… I mean, we don’t have to… If you don’t want to…”

Max tried to pretend that he couldn’t see the blush that had so obviously appeared on Felix’s face. He would be lying if he said that the idea of resuming the more physical aspects of his relationship with Felix wasn’t a tempting one (in fact it would perhaps be more accurate to say that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the idea since his path had crossed with Felix’s own the day before) but the last thing that he wanted was to presume, or to make Felix uncomfortable.

After all, it had been years. As far as Max knew Felix had moved on and had a pretty young thing waiting for him back in Amber Heights.

Still, the offer had been extended, and Max told himself that he would be happy if Felix accepted regardless of whether or not it might mean a very tense and uncomfortable night for himself. After all, the bed that MSI had lent him was more than big enough for two people to share, regardless of whether or not the two were intimate with one another.

Max suspected that the bed in question had been diverted from its intended destination in Byzantium through possibly illegal means. Either that or it had, once upon a time, been set aside for any visiting corporate ambassadors. Even the largest, nicest honeymoon suite available for the average Halcyon worker to hire for a couple of nights upon successfully signing a marriage contract wasn’t as nice as the room that MSI had offered Max, and it seemed to him a shame for it to be wasted on one person alone.

He readied about half a dozen excuses should Felix question his intentions, but it turned out that he needed precisely none of them as Felix stared at him and then, the blush still obvious on his cheeks, answered Max’s question with a simple “okay.”

--

Felix let out an impressed whistle as he entered the room behind Max. He’d never seen such opulence outside of Byzantium before. Sure, he knew that the Board bigwigs all lived in luxury compared to the rest of them, but it was one thing to know it and another thing to actually see it or have that luxury extended to himself.

The bed was enormous, and Felix found himself frowning as he looked at it. It was more than big enough for two people. His mind had been imagining what might happen between himself and Max that evening ever since Max had invited him to stay in his room. In his imagination the bed had been smaller; still big enough for two, but small enough that they would have no choice but to lie there, pressed against one another, and then Max’s arm would wrap around Felix, only because it was more comfortable that way, you understand, and the next thing either of them knew they would be making out, because of course they would.

Now Felix wasn’t sure that there would be any making out happening at all that night. As far as he knew Max had meant the invitation as nothing more than a kindness. The bed was huge after all, and it really did seem a waste for only one person to use it when they would probably be able to share and not even notice there was another person in the bed with them.

They tried to rekindle the camaraderie that had existed between them on the road and at Left Field, but things had suddenly become awkward between them. Felix didn’t know whether he should start flirting with Max or teasing him. The older man had likewise fallen mostly silent since they had entered the room.

“Perhaps we should just try to sleep,” Max eventually said, offering Felix a smile that was anything but confident.

“Yeah,” Felix muttered. “That sounds like a plan.”

They both shed their outer layers. Max then dimmed the lights and they climbed into opposite sides of the bed.

Felix tried to relax, but it was impossible when he knew that Max was lying there in the darkness on the opposite side of the bed; the bed that was far too large and far too soft and warm, something that Felix had only ever seen in serials before. It was comfortable, but so different from anything that he had ever slept on before that for a moment Felix was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep in it at all.

He settled into the pillow, and that too was softer and more comfortable than he was used to, and found himself facing Max, the older man’s face resting on the other pillow on the other side of the bed.

He was further away than Felix had anticipated, but he still felt his heart skip a beat when Max’s eyes met his own in the darkness.

There was a gap between them now, one that Felix wasn’t sure how to cross, or even if he should. Two feet between their faces; less at certain points along their bodies, but still a space, and one that Felix wished wasn’t there at all.

He squirmed beneath the blanket, stretching his feet out towards Max’s own. His toes brushed against something that might have been Max’s foot. If the other man felt it then his expression didn’t change at all, and his foot remained exactly where it had been.

Felix swallowed nervously, gathered his courage, and reached out with his hand instead, finding Max’s own beneath the covers and letting a couple of his fingers just barely brush against the back of Max’s hand. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were still staring at one another then he might have even been able to pass it off as an accident.

Max’s hand moved slowly, turning Felix’s own hand around until their fingers were loosely entwined. Felix wondered if Max could feel how fast his heart was beating through the tips of his fingers.

Max’s hand tightened around Felix’s own, and brought it, ever so slowly and carefully, up to his mouth, where he pressed a soft kiss to Felix’s fingers.

If Felix’s pulse hadn’t already been racing then that soft, tender gesture would have done it. Max smiled at Felix as he pulled back from Felix’s hand, and Felix knew that he was lost.

“Does this mean what I think it means?” he asked.

“It means whatever you want it to mean,” Max replied.

It was as annoyingly cryptic as Max always was, but it, along with Max’s smile, was all the invitation that Felix needed to close the space between them.

He shuffled across the bed, closing the gap between them and pressing his lips against Max’s own. Max responded immediately, kissing Felix back with a mixture of restraint and passion that Felix knew he would never be able to match. As it was his heart already felt like it was beating twice as fast as normal.

Felix wrapped his arms around Max’s shoulders, pulling him in closer to deepen the kiss. Max let out a low, needy groan, and his arms moved to wrap around Felix’s back and pull him in closer, Felix gasping into the kiss when he felt the rest of their bodies pressing against one another, just as close as he had been craving.

He threw one leg over Max’s hip and pressed himself against Max’s body as much as he could, desperate to feel the other man’s warmth.

Max pulled back from the kiss, and Felix was tempted to complain, despite the fact that they both needed to breathe, until Max leaned down and used his mouth instead to place a series of smaller kisses on Felix’s skin, starting on Felix’s jaw and moving down to his neck.

“I missed this,” Max whispered into Felix’s skin before nuzzling into him, the gentle press of his nose and mouth enough to send shivers down Felix’s back.

Felix wondered if Max really meant ‘I missed you.’ Felix hoped that he did, and besides, they’d only done this twice before. It would be silly to miss something you’d only done twice, Felix’s own pining and fantasizing notwithstanding.

“You know what else I’ve missed?” Felix asked.

Max let out a sort of half-chuckle that Felix would have found absolutely infuriating when they had first met, but which now made his heart clench strangely in his chest.

“What’s that?” Max asked, before nuzzling into the skin of Felix’s neck once more.

Felix had been sure that he had been about to say something totally smooth; something that would knock Max’s socks right off, but Max’s attentions were making any sort of coherent thought rapidly flee from his mind.

“I… shit,” Felix gasped as Max started to kiss and suck at the side of his neck again. “I don’t… You?”

It was not what Felix had been intending to say. He was sure of that, but it was apparently enough to make Max’s breath catch. Felix could feel the other man’s hands tremble where they moved to grasp Felix’s hips and try to pull him closer.

“Felix,” Max whispered, and Felix didn’t think his name had ever sounded so nice as when Max said it like that, all dark and gravelly and full of promise.

Max’s hands moved down to grasp Felix’s rear and pull their lower torsos flush against one another. Felix let out a loud cry of pleasure when he realised that Max was just as hard as he was.

“You know,” Max said, one of his hands already working to undo Felix’s belt. “We don’t have to do this again if you don’t want to.”

As though Felix would ever ask him to stop. Damn Max and his always trying to do the right thing. Felix just wanted him to get on with it already.

“Please, you can’t stop now,” Felix said, knowing that he had never been so sure of wanting something in his entire life. “Come on.”

He ground against Max, not sure whether he was hoping for more attention from Max’s hand or whether he just wanted to feel the friction of their still-clothed erections against one another.

Either way Max let out a cry of pleasure in response, before leaning down and capturing Felix’s lips in a kiss that was both passionate and absolutely dominating as though Max was trying to fit two years’ worth of kisses into that single moment.

Felix felt like he was being swept away. He already felt as though Max was completely in control of what was happening, but that was how he always seemed to end up feeling when he was with Max. It was like he couldn’t think straight; like he didn’t know how to breathe or move or exist unless it was with Max’s lips on his mouth and Max’s hands on his body.

When Max pulled back for a moment Felix found himself immediately gasping the other man’s name; his own voice already sounding desperate and broken to his ears. Max stared down at him; his eyes blown wide in the darkness of the night, before pushing the blanket that had been covering them to one side and running his hands over Felix’s chest.

There was still an undershirt between his skin and Max’s hands, and Felix wished that he could banish it. He waited until Max’s caresses had halted for a moment, before tearing the undershirt off and throwing it to the other side of the room.

Max responded to that by surging forward, capturing Felix’s mouth in another kiss and letting his hands resume their exploration of Felix’s now bare chest. He both heard and felt Max moan into the kiss, and wasn’t sure what had prompted it until he realised that at some stage his hands had come to rest on Max’s rear, seemingly without his permission.

Now that he realised where his hands were sitting he couldn’t resist giving Max’s rear a gentle squeeze, which prompted another groan and made Max grind down against Felix’s body.

They were still wearing too much, and apparently they simultaneously decided to do something about it, their hands attempting to remove each other’s pants at the same time, while their lips stayed pressed against one another.

After much struggling and moaning and trying to stay pressed against one another as much as possible while simultaneously attempting to get undressed they eventually succeeded in removing all of their clothes.

Felix was caught between wanting to stare at Max’s naked body, or as much of it as he could see in the darkness, and immediately running his hands all over it. In the end Max made the decision for him, staring down at Felix with hungry eyes before immediately leaning down and attaching his lips to Felix’s skin.

He started high up on Felix’s torso, near his collarbone, pressing kiss after kiss to Felix’s skin as he slowly made his way down Felix’s body. He moved over his chest and then down the centre of his stomach, pressing one kiss above Felix’s bellybutton and then another below, while Felix felt himself being slowly torn apart and washed away by Max’s affections.

He knew what Max’s intended destination had to be, but he still found himself screaming when Max’s lips finally reached the tip of his cock. Max’s hand rubbed softly against his hips, stilling him and stopping the desperate writhing and bucking that Felix wouldn’t have been able to hold back if it wasn’t for Max’s gentle touch.

“It’s all right,” Max said as his hands moved up and down Felix’s sides. “I have you.”

Felix let out a whimper which rapidly turned into another scream as Max’s lips wrapped themselves around his cock again, this time sinking lower as he took Felix into his mouth.

Oh law, the feeling of Max’s mouth on him was absolutely perfect, and Felix knew that regardless of what happened between the two of them, this moment would be enough to fuel his fantasies for years to come.

He knew that he was gasping and muttering Max’s name, over and over again, unable to think of anything apart from the pleasure. He reached down, wanting to touch Max’s head, to run his fingers through the other man’s hair, but not knowing if it would be allowed.

Max must have noticed him hesitating, because he grabbed one of Felix’s hands and placed it on his own head. Felix was still for a moment, before running his fingers through the older man’s hair, marvelling at the softness of it.

Max let out a groan as he did, the sensation travelling right through Felix’s cock, and he was unable to stop himself from bucking up into Max’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to choke out as Max’s removed his mouth from Felix’s cock.

“It’s all right,” Max said, his voice deep and raw, before returning his attention to Felix’s erection, lavishing it with kisses before sucking gently at the top.

Felix threw his head back and gasped and whimpered, unable to do much more as Max continued to kiss and suck.

Before long he felt one of Max’s hands move further down, his fingers pressing gently at Felix’s hole. The added stimulation was too much. Max had barely started to stretch him when Felix was begging and blabbering for him to stop.

“Please Max,” he said. “You need to stop because if you don’t then this is going to be over way too soon and I don’t want it to be over yet. Please, Max. Please.”

Max pulled back and away from Felix’s cock, and part of Felix immediately regretted asking for him to stop, but he wanted to finish with Max; wanted to feel the other man on top of him and inside him and all around him when he gave himself over to oblivion.

Max’s mouth might have retreated but his fingers didn’t. He continued to stretch Felix open for a few more minutes, only now he was looking right into Felix’s eyes as he did. Felix didn’t know whether the older man just wanted to keep an eye on him and make sure that everything was all right or whether he was just enjoying the sight of Felix all flushed and lost in pleasure. Whatever it was, it was too much, and Felix could only meet Max’s gaze for a few seconds before he was squeezing his eyes shut and trying to bite back his cries.

He already felt too open and too vulnerable when they were together like this. He wasn’t sure he could take the thought of Max looking down deep inside of him and discovering exactly how much Felix had wanted this; had wanted Max as soon as they had been reunited in the Monarch wilderness.

Max’s hand left Felix’s body, and he leaned down to capture Felix’s mouth in his own. Felix went willingly, opening his mouth for the older man and giving himself over completely, moaning wantonly as he did.

Max pulled back, and Felix couldn’t help but let out a whimper as the older man stared down at him once more. He cupped the side of Felix’s face, catching Felix’s gaze with his own once more.

“Felix,” he breathed, making Felix’s heart do a strange little somersault in his chest, before pushing inside of him and…

Oh law! This was everything Felix had wanted. Max’s lips were on his own once more, and soon their arms were wrapping around one another and Max was moving inside of him and oh, this was perfect and Felix never wanted it to end.

Max pulled back from the kiss, his forehead coming to rest on Felix’s shoulder, and Felix would have missed the older man’s kisses if it wasn’t for the fact that he was calling out Felix’s name over and over again and he was saying it so sweetly, as if Felix’s name was something to be savoured, and Felix could feel Max’s breath on his shoulder and his hands running over his back and thighs and sides, as though Max couldn’t decide where he wanted to touch Felix more.

Felix’s legs had come up to wrap around Max’s lower body pretty much as soon as Max had entered him, and they continued to hold on to him as Max thrust in and out. Felix’s arms held Max close as he breathed against Felix’s shoulder, pausing every so often to press a desperate kiss to whatever patch of skin on Felix’s neck or shoulder or ear that he could reach.

Felix knew that neither of them would be able to last long at their current pace. It was too good, too overwhelming, and if the desperate cries and the shuddering of his lover were any indication then he knew that Max wasn’t in any better shape than he was.

The pleasure grew and grew, and sure enough Felix was throwing his head back and screaming as he lost himself in his orgasm. It seemed to go on and on. He wasn’t even sure whether he came first or Max did, but he felt the other man’s hold on him tighten; felt Max’s thrusts stutter and somehow, through the haze of his own pleasure, heard the other man cry out his name, and then whisper it over and over and over again until he fell silent.

When Felix came down and was able to feel anything other than pleasure again, he realised that Max was resting half on top of Felix, his head on Felix’s chest, and he was running one hand softly through Felix’s curls in the most gentle of caresses.

“Hey,” Felix said, even that one simple word coming out slightly husky and broken.

A wide, joyous grin immediately broke out on Max’s face.

“Hey,” he replied.

Felix adjusted his own position so that he could run his hand over Max’s back and feel the tight muscle and soft skin there.

“I’m glad we got that out in the open,” Felix said.

Max let out a chuckle.

“Yes, me too.”

They were silent for a moment, and this time there was nothing awkward about it. Felix considered telling Max how much he had wanted the older man, or how incredible Max had just made him feel, but Max broke the silence before Felix did.

“By all the stars Felix,” Max said, his hand briefly stopping it’s caressing of Felix’s hair to cup the side of his face instead. “You’re so beautiful.”

Felix let out a soft gasp, and felt his heart clench uncomfortably in his chest. He didn’t know what to say or how to react, but he did wonder how Max might react if Felix asked the older man to stay with him on Monarch forever.

Felix didn’t know whether he could trust himself to speak at that moment, and so instead he grabbed Max’s hand in his own and brought it up to his face, pressing kiss after kiss to his fingers and palm and wrist.

Eventually they fell asleep, their hands still entwined, and Max’s head still resting on Felix’s chest.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

[uniteordie-usa]

Ex-Spy Chief Admits Role In 'Deep State' Intelligence War On Trump

http://uniteordie-usa.com/ex-spy-chief-admits-role-in-deep-state-intelligence-war-on-trump/ http://uniteordie-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DeepState-seal-600x352.png Ex-Spy Chief Admits Role In 'Deep State' Intelligence War On Trump An ex-spy chief who spoke out publicly against Trump while inspiring other career intelligence figures to follow suit has admitted his leading role in the intelligence community waging political war against the president, describing his actions as something he didn’t “fully think t...

An ex-spy chief who spoke out publicly against Trump while inspiring other career intelligence figures to follow suit has admitted his leading role in the intelligence community waging political war against the president, describing his actions as something he didn’t “fully think through”. In a surprisingly frank interview, the CIA’s Michael Morell – who was longtime Deputy Director and former Acting Director of the nation’s most powerful intelligence agency – said that it wasn’t a great idea to leak against and bash a new president.

Morell had the dubious distinction of being George W. Bush’s personal daily briefer for the agency before and after 9/11, and also served under Obama until his retirement. In the summer of 2016 he took the unusual step (for a former intelligence chief) of openly endorsing Hillary Clinton in a New York Times op-ed entitled, I Ran the C.I.A. Now I’m Endorsing Hillary Clinton, after which he continued to be both an outspoken critic of Trump and an early CIA voice promoting the Russian collusion and election meddling narrative.

Acting director of the CIA Michael Morell with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in 2013. Image source: Wiki Commons, DoD

As Politico’s Susan Glasser put in a newly published interview, Morell “has emerged out of the shadows of the deep state” to become one of Trump’s foremost critics speaking within the intel community. However, Politico summarizes the interview as follows:

But in a revealingly self-critical and at times surprising interview for this week’s Global POLITICO, Morell acknowledges that he and other spy-world critics of the president failed to fully “think through” the negative backlash generated by their going political. “There was a significant downside,” Morell said in the interview.

Not only had Morell during his previous NYT op-ed stated that he was committed to doing “everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president” but he went so far as to call then candidate Trump “a threat to our national security” – while making the extraordinary claim that “in the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.”

Curiously, Morell in his latest Politico interview indicates when asked about his “public profile” and activism so soon after leaving the agency (something that was relatively unusual prior to Trump taking office) that his post-retirement media appearances have been approved and/or received some level of oversight by the CIA. In the interview Morell states, “I did a 60 Minutes interview about my life inside CIA, and it’s something the agency thought that was a good thing to do, and I taped most of it before I left the agency.”

While such CIA review of former employees’ publications and media interaction is nothing new, in Morell’s case was an unprecedented example of a very high profile intelligence figure explicitly campaigning for a presidential candidate and against another while specifically invoking his role at the CIA (he began his NYT column with, “During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats…” followed by a litany of key national security events he was central to).

The other important confirmation to come out of the discussion is the clear guiding assumption of the interview – that the intelligence “deep state” did in fact go to war with Trump – which has now been confirmed by Morell himself, which is essentially to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Byron York

Light bulb goes off for former top CIA official: Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to leak against, bash a new president. From @sbg1: http://ow.ly/Pgwq30h8YIU 

The key exchange in the Politico interview begins as follows:

Glasser: Okay, so, flash-forward a year. Was that a mistake?

Morell: So, I don’t think it was a mistake. I think there were downsides to it that I didn’t think about at the time. I was concerned about what is the impact it would have on the agency, right? Very concerned about that, thought that through. But I don’t think I fully thought through the implications.

And one of the ways I’ve thought about that, Susan, is—okay, how did Donald Trump see this? Right? And from—it’s very important—one of the things we do as intelligence analysts is make sure that our guy—the president—understands the other guy. Right?

So, let’s put ourselves here in Donald Trump’s shoes. So, what does he see? Right? He sees a former director of CIA and a former director of NSA, Mike Hayden, who I have the greatest respect for, criticizing him and his policies. Right? And he could rightfully have said, “Huh, what’s going on with these intelligence guys?” Right?

Morell here seems to confirm Trump’s narrative of events concerning Russiagate “fake news” and willful intelligence leaks intended to damage the president, despite his opening obfuscation of “I don’t think it was a mistake” (so he’s essentially admitting the negative consequences but with no regrets).

Surprisingly, Morell even implicates himself with the words, “And then he sees a former acting director and deputy director of CIA criticizing him and endorsing his opponent.”  The interview continues:

Glasser: It embroiders his narrative.

Morell: Exactly. And then he sees a former acting director and deputy director of CIA criticizing him and endorsing his opponent. And then he gets his first intelligence briefing, after becoming the Republican nominee, and within 24 to 48 hours, there are leaks out of that that are critical of him and his then-national security advisor, Mike Flynn.

And so, this stuff starts to build, right? And he must have said to himself, “What is it with these intelligence guys? Are they political?” The current director at the time, John Brennan, during the campaign occasionally would push back on things that Donald Trump had said.

So, when Trump talked about the Iran nuclear deal being the worst deal in the history of American diplomacy, and he was going to tear it up on the first day—John Brennan came out publicly and said, “That would be an act of folly.” So, he sees current sitting director pushing back on him. Right?

Then he becomes president, and he’s supposed to be getting a daily brief from the moment he becomes the president-elect. Right? And he doesn’t. And within a few days, there’s leaks about how he’s not taking his briefing. So, he must have thought—right?—that, “Who are these guys? Are these guys out to get me? Is this a political organization? Can I think about them as a political organization when I become president?”

So, I think there was a significant downside to those of us who became political in that moment. So, if I could have thought of that, would I have ended up in a different place? I don’t know. But it’s something I didn’t think about.

Justin Raimondo@JustinRaimondo

“Is this a political organization?” said Caesar as Brutus was stabbing him. https://twitter.com/ByronYork/status/940194623351414784 …

Despite Morell’s attempts to mitigate his own significant contributions toward creating a climate of distrust between the White House and the intelligence bureaucracy, it seems clear to the interviewee that Morell’s admissions lend credence to Trump’s side.

Indeed, Susan Glasser reasons, based on Morell’s unexpected confessions, that “you or others who spoke out and have continued to speak out actually tend to underscore his feeling that there’s a political divide.”

Glasser: Well, it’s very interesting, because of course, there are so many things you don’t know at that moment in time, including, of course, I’m sure you assumed, along with everybody else, that Hillary Clinton was likely to be elected, and you saw this as contributing to that in some way. But it’s certainly relevant in the context of the situation we find ourselves in a year later. And, if it tends to embolden Trump in his critique of your former colleagues who are still serving in the intelligence agencies, and not only has this been a theme that he has struck repeatedly to criticize—but also to politicize this.

  And inadvertently, perhaps, you or others who spoke out and have continued to speak out actually tend to underscore his feeling that there’s a political divide, and now you and others are on one side of it, and potentially all your former colleagues, and then he’s on the other side of it…

Morell: Yeah, and you can’t pick and choose like that. And when people in the intelligence community—particularly people in CIA, because for every other part of the intelligence community except CIA, you’re working for a cabinet member. At CIA, you are working for the president of the United States. That is your customer. Right? 00:08:03 So, when you see your customer questioning what it is that you are providing to him or her, and that person seems to be cherry-picking what they accept and what they don’t accept, it’s demoralizing. And when it’s demoralizing, people take actions, right? So, I live pretty close to the agency, and there’s a coffee shop between me and the agency, and I’ve met a number of agency officers in that coffee shop who have said to me, “I’m thinking about leaving.”

Yet Morell in a round about way previously admitted that he is personally one of the chief authors of precisely this “demoralizing” scenario in which the president doesn’t fully trust his intelligence briefers.

But we should all remember that this is a man who on the one hand described “Russia’s hacking is the political equivalent of 9/11” and constantly hyped “Russian propaganda”, while on the other he went on a lengthy RT News segment in order to promote his newly published book.

 Read More: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-11/ex-spy-chief-admits-role-deep-state-intelligence-war-trump