The Op-Ed ran in The New York Times opinion section on Friday under the headline, “I Ran the C.I.A. Now I’m Endorsing Hillary Clinton,” and the piece delivered the kind of public support a campaign cherishes:
During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.
No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.
Michael J. Morell, the author, goes on to condemn Donald J. Trump for his judgment in praising Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and to warn of the severe threat Trump poses to the country.
Morell comes across as apolitical, evenhanded and well-credentialed on matters of national security. What the piece does not say is that he is a senior counselor at Beacon Global Strategies, a Washington consulting firm with connections to Hillary Clinton. Two of the firm’s founders were top aides to Clinton, including Philippe Reines. Leon Panetta, who led the Defense Department and, later, the C.I.A. under President Obama, is also with the firm.
Morell didn’t mention the firm, or its ties to Clinton, in his piece. He simply said that he knew Clinton from working with her while she was secretary of state and he was a top official at the C.I.A. The Times identified him only by saying Morell was the acting director and deputy director of the C.I.A. from 2010 to 2013. It said nothing about the firm he joined after that.
I asked Jim Dao, the editor of the Op-Ed pages, why The Times did not inform readers of Morell’s work with the consulting firm. Dao said the firm is bipartisan and employs both Democrats and Republicans. In addition, he said editors received assurances that the piece was Morell’s alone and that it was not in any way linked to Clinton’s campaign.
“We gave careful consideration not just to his professional background, but the potential for a conflict,” Dao wrote in an email to me. “What we came away with was a firm belief that his opinion originated solely from his experiences working closely with Mrs. Clinton in crisis situations, as well as his deep dislike for Trump’s views and personality.”
I have no reason to question whether Morell’s endorsement of Clinton is genuine. Nor do I question that he reached his views by working beside the former secretary under extreme circumstances potentially vital to the country’s national security. The error, in my view, was The Times’s failure to disclose the firm that Morell works for and its links to Clinton. That wouldn’t have discredited the piece, but it might have given readers a more transparent understanding of who the author was.