Exclusive — Retired CIA Officer: We Are at War with ISIS. Now Let’s Act Like It

The retired CIA officer, who was in Afghanistan working against Al Qaeda more than a year before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, told Breitbart News reporter Tom Trento Americans must ignore false media-hyped narratives that the Orlando massacre was about gay rights or too many gun owners.

“The truth is that we are at war with ISIS and we need to start acting like it,” said Gary Bernsten, the author of the book Jawbreaker about his covert operations against Osama bin Laden.

“We need to declare war on ISIS,” he said. “We need to end this thing. This is ridiculous.”

In addition to making a formal declaration of war, the retired CIA officer said the federal government needs to establish a domestic intelligence agency that is more than another law enforcement agency and to reboot the country’s public diplomacy with a more robust strategic messaging. “Get it some guts and let it go to work against these guys.”

Bernsten, who endorsed Donald J. Trump for president in February, said the attack in Orlando is not the end and Americans need to prepare, just as they should have prepared after the attack on USS Cole.