Former President George W. Bush fiercely defended the CIA ahead of the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Agency’s activities during his presidency, calling anything diminishing the CIA’s contribution to the United States "way off base."
"We're fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf. These are patriots," Bush said. "Whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country, it is way off base."
On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry warned Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) that the release of the report could incite violence in the Middle East and put American hostages and personnel at risk.
Bush said the U.S. was "lucky" to have the CIA operators working on the nation’s behalf.
"I knew the directors; I knew the deputy directors; I knew a lot of the operators," Bush said. "These are good people, really good people, and we're lucky as a nation to have them."