Ex-National Security Advisor Slams Trump for Exposing U.S. Military Base to Putin, “Everybody Is a Suspected Spy”

After President Donald Trump greeted former KGB spy and current Russian President Vladimir Putin on a red carpet unfurled on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska — where a stealth bomber flew above the two leaders — Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton voiced his objection to the site of the summit.

Note: JBER is home to several of the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptors. Military Balance reported this year that the U.S. owns 165 F-22 Raptors, and is the only country to operate the aircraft.

On CNN, Bolton told Anderson Cooper: “These are very sensitive stealth aircraft. And everybody on the Russian party is a suspected spy. This whole base is now available to them, at least to some extent. I don’t think it should have been held on the base.”

MAGA supporters are responding to Bolton’s alarm bell with comments including, “Russia knows about the B2s. They know about our nuclear subs, too. And we know about their weapon systems. Calm down.”

Frederik Mertens, a strategic analyst with the Dutch research think tank TNO, told Newsweek that while the exact specifications of the F-22 and Russia’s rough equivalent (the Su-57, also known as “Felon”) are shrouded in secrecy, “The F-22 has far superior stealth characteristics, where the Russian aircraft still shows its direct descendance from the Su-27 line.” 

Mertens added: “If both aircraft meet up over the skies in Alaska, you can be sure both sides will try to learn as much about the other as possible, and both sides will try to hide as much as possible about the true capabilities of their aircraft as they can.”