Donald Trump's statements on national security have "made the United States less safe," according to former CIA Director Michael Hayden.
Trump is a bigger threat to national security than Hillary Clinton, said Hayden in an interview with Glenn Thrush on Politico's
"Off Message" podcast last Friday. Adding that he views Trump's "current statements as erratic. I just don't know what he's going to do."
Hayden said Trump's national security talk "is not so much wrong or overly certain. It's incoherent" and his call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. "has made the United States less safe than it has to be."
Hayden said out of the remaining Republican candidates for president, he would trust Ohio Gov. John Kasich the most on national security.
However, in the "narrowly defined national security lane," behind Kasich, Hayden praised Clinton as the "best prepared from day one." Noting she was "a quick study," when he briefed her while she was secretary of state.
"This is an experienced diplomat, an experienced woman, who seems to have taken these questions seriously," said Hayden.
Other experts agree with Hayden's views on Trump.
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell told NBC's
"Meet the Press" Sunday that Trump is "completely uneducated about any part of the world" and "when he doesn't know something, he just changes the subject."
Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also agreed with Hayden, noting Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are both delivering, "irresponsible and dangerous proposals," according to
ABC News.
Columnist Eugene Robinson in a
Washington Post article said Trump's "ignorance of government policy, foreign and domestic, is breathtaking."
Adding: "I'm appalled at how little he knows — and truly frightened."