CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, June 4, 2018

Admiral Rogers’ Nefarious Neighborhood

If you grew up with TV’s pastor Mr. Fred Rogers, you may recall Mr. Rogers’ nice neighbors. But Admiral Michael C. Rogers, who retired recently with full military honors from the U.S. Navy after 37 years of distinguished service, did not finish his career in a very nice neighborhood. As Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Admiral Rogers had to serve under James Clapper, the director of National Intelligenc(DNI). Also, Admiral Rogers had to serve alongside CIA director, John Brennan, and FBI director, James Comey.

The NSA has, when properly authorized, the awesome capability of listening to your cell and land-line telephone conversations, reading your e-mails, and even seeing what is inside your computer, and even the Cloud. Capabilities Hitler and his Gestapo or Stalin and his NKVD would have died for.

One of Admiral Rogers’ responsibilities was to see that those commanding capabilities were used against America’s enemies and not used against law-abiding American citizens. In March 2016, Admiral Rogers suspected the NSA’s work products were being used by other organs of the Obama Administration’s Intelligence Community (IC) for unlawful political purposes.

In April 2016, he ordered a compliance audit. Alarmed by the audit, on April 18, 2016, Admiral Rogers began to shut down the ability of the FBI, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the CIA to have access to raw data being obtained via some rather dubious applications by the FBI and the CIA to the FISA Court judges under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Recall, 2016 was a presidential election year that developed into a head-to-head campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. From April into September of 2016, Admiral Rogers continued his investigations. But on October 21, 2016 (a month before the November presidential election), the CIA and the FBI, using the now discredited information in the so-called Steele Dossier, were able to get the FISA Court to authorize electronic surveillance of Carter Page, someone loosely related to the Trump presidential campaign. The FISA Court was unaware the surveillance request contained Section 702 violations and was approved.

Coincidentally with the time when Admiral Rogers began to think something might be rotten in places other than Denmark, Directors Clapper, Brennan, and Comey complained to Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, about Admiral Rogers’ job performance. Secretary Carter was slow to act. So, in mid-October, 2016, Director Clapper asked President Obama to fire Admiral Rogers. Apparently, thinking Hillary Clinton was going to win anyway, Admiral Rogers was left in place.

Surprisingly, on November 9, 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States. On November 17, 2016, without informing DNI Clapper, Admiral Rogers went to the Trump Tower and told President-Elect Trump what Clapper, Brennan, and Comey had been doing. That evening, the Trump Transition Team moved from Trump Tower to New Jersey.

On March 4, 2017, President Trump tweets that his presidential campaign and his transition team were "wiretapped." Something he knew since November 17, 2016.

The left-leaning mainstream media (MSM) scoffed at President Trump’s allegations. But, when the history of the Obama/Spygate scandal is finally written, Admiral Mike Rogers may be recorded as the scandal’s Paul Revere. We report. You decide.

©2018. William Hamilton.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, is a laureate of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame, the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma University Army ROTC Wall of Fame. In 2015, he was named an Outstanding Alumnus of the University of Nebraska. Dr. Hamilton is the author of The Wit and Wisdom of William Hamilton: the Sage of Sheepdog Hill, Pegasus Imprimis Press (2017). "Central View," can also be seen at: www.central-view.com.

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