Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager,
David Bossie, has blamed former President Bill Clinton's “Don't
Ask, Don't Tell” military policy for 9/11.
Since 2000, Bossie has served as
president and chairman of the conservative group Citizens United. He
became Trump's deputy campaign manager last week.
In his 2004 book Intelligence
Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage for
9/11, Bossie argues that Clinton let the terrorist attacks happen
by allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military and at the
CIA.
Clinton replaced the military policy
that barred gay men and lesbians from serving in the military with a
more nuanced policy that allowed closeted men and women to remain in
the armed forces. The policy, known as “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,”
was repealed under the Obama administration.
“That Clinton continued to loathe the
military was revealed as soon as he took office and attempted to
overhaul military policies, such as allowing homosexuals to serve
with the new 'don't ask, don't tell' policy,” Bossie
wrote.
Bossie added that “serious
security-clearance issues and concerns about homosexuals in the
intelligence community” are based on “legitimate rationales.”
“Unfortunately, in the Clinton
administration, we didn’t see any serious study of the issue.
Rather, Clinton’s ideology, and his need to pay back the homosexual
community, forced the CIA to change, regardless of the effect on
national security. Where will this end? It is hard to say,” he
wrote.
Trump for his part has blamed George W.
Bush for the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed and injured
thousands of Americans.