Facebook's announcement Thursday that it would provide the contents of 3,000 ads bought by a Russian agency to congressional investigators is "a very positive step," former CIA Director Michael Hayden said.
This "suggests the level of sophistication that the Russian Federation used to influence, perhaps even affect, American election outcomes," Hayden, who also directed the NSA, told Anderson Cooper on CNN. "The more we learn about this, the better."
Facebook's decision came amid growing pressure on the company from Congress, whose members pushed the social networking company to release the ads after disclosing their existence earlier this month.
Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, has already handed over the ads to the special counsel investigating Russian interference last year's presidential election.
Hayden declined to speculate on what the development signaled in Mueller's investigation but added that "this entire process as necessary as it is, and it is necessary, is debilitating on the administration's ability to govern.
"It just gets in the way.
"Director Mueller has got to do two things," Hayden said. "Number one, get to truth as quickly as possible.
"The second requirement, as least as important, is when he finally reports out, everyone has to agree that the investigation has been exhaustive.
"That he's turned over every possible stone.
"Because if he doesn't do that, we don't put this behind us one way or another — and that really hurts American governance."