Veterans of the CIA, army and FBI launch a solemn appeal to Biden: Macron can lead the United States and humanity into nuclear war
April 8th
ALERT MEMORANDUM FOR: President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Mental Health
SUBJECT: On the brink of nuclear war
Mister President :
France is reportedly preparing to send a force of around 2000 troops – roughly a reinforced brigade built around an armored battalion and two mechanized battalions, with supporting logistics, engineering and artillery troops – to Ukraine in the not so distant future.
This force is purely symbolic, as it would have no survivability in a modern high-intensity conflict of the scale of what is happening in Ukraine today. It would not be deployed directly in a conflict zone, but would serve either as
(1) screening force/trip wire to stop Russian advance; Or
(2) replacement force deployed to a non-active area to free Ukrainian soldiers for combat. The French brigade would be supplemented by smaller units from the Baltic States.
This would amount to introducing the combat troops of a NATO country into a theater of war, making them “legitimate targets” under the laws of war.
Such units apparently do not have a NATO mandate. However, in Russia's view, this may be a distinction without a difference. France appears to be betting – naively – that its NATO membership would prevent Russia from attacking French troops. Rather, it is very likely that Russia would attack any French/Baltic contingent in Ukraine and quickly destroy/degrade its combat viability.
In this case, French President Macron could calculate that after the Russian attacks on the troops of NATO members – NATO mandate or not – he could invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter and make intervene the NATO alliance. Such intervention would likely take the form of aircraft operating from NATO countries – and perhaps include interdiction missions against targets in Russia.
On the precipice of nuclear war?
From a doctrinal and legal point of view, Russia's response would be to launch retaliatory strikes also against targets located in NATO countries. If NATO then attacks targets in Russia, Russian nuclear doctrine would then take over and NATO decision centers would be hit with nuclear weapons.
We do not believe that Russia will launch a nuclear attack against the United States, but rather we leave it up to the United States to decide whether it wants to risk destruction by preparing to launch a nuclear strike against Russia. That said, Russia's strategic forces have improved to the point that in some areas – hypersonic missiles, for example – their capabilities exceed those of the United States and NATO.
In other words, the Russian temptation to strike first is perhaps a little stronger than in past crises, and we are a little less convinced that Russia will want to “go second.”
Another worrying factor is that Russians are likely to believe that Macron's madness enjoys the tacit approval of some key US and Western officials, who appear desperate to find a way to change the trajectory of the war in Ukraine - especially as the elections approach.
What needs to be done
Europe must understand that France is leading it on the path to inevitable self-destruction.
The American people must understand that Europe is leading them to the brink of nuclear annihilation.
Since Russian leaders may suspect that Macron is working hand in hand with Washington, the United States must publicly and unambiguously express its position.
And if France and the Baltics insist on sending troops to Ukraine, it must also be made clear that such action has no NATO mandate; that Article 5 will not be triggered by Russian retaliation; and that the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including nuclear weapons that are part of NATO's deterrent, will not be used as a result of Russian military action against French or Baltic troops.
Without such clarity, France would lead the American people down the path to a nuclear conflict that would decidedly not be in the interests of the American people – or of humanity itself.
For the steering group, veteran health intelligence professionals
- William Binney, former Technical Director, Global Geopolitical and Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
- Richard Black, former Virginia state senator; Colonel, United States (retired); Former Head of the Criminal Law Division, Judge Advocate General (Associate VIP)
- Marshall Carter Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (retired) and former Bureau Director in the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research
- Bogdan Dzaković, Former Federal Air Marshals and Red Team Chief, FAA Security, (Retired) (Associate VIP)
- Graham E. Fuller, Vice Chairman, National Intelligence Council (retired)
- Philippe Girardi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)
- Matthew Hoh, Former Captain, USMC, Iraq and Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (Associate VIP)
- James George Jatras, former American diplomat and former foreign policy advisor to the Senate leadership (Associate VIPS)
- Larry C. Johnson, former CIA and State Department counterterrorism officer
- John Kiriakou, former CIA counterterrorism officer and former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- Karen Kwiatkowski, former U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel (ret.), in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, observing the fabrication of lies about Iraq, 2001-2003
- Douglas MacGregor, Colonel, United States (Ret.) (Associate VIP)
- Ray mcgovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer and CIA analyst; CIA Presidential Briefer (retired)
- Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, National Intelligence Council and CIA political analyst (retired)
- Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, U.S. Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
- Pedro Israel Orta, former CIA and intelligence community officer (Inspector General)
- Scott Knight, former MAJ, USMC; former UN weapons inspector, Iraq
- Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (retired)
- Laurent Wilkerson, Colonel USA, retired), Visiting Professor Emeritus, College of William and Mary (VIPS Associate)
- Sarah G. Wilton, CDR, USNR, (ret.); Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.)
- Kirk Wiebe, former principal analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA
- Robert Aile, former foreign service officer (VIPS associate)
- Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army reserve colonel and former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 to oppose the Iraq War.
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