President Donald Trump's troop withdrawal from Syria potentially sets up "genocide" of the Kurds and puts 50 U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey in peril, according to former CIA Director James Woolsey on Newsmax TV.
"It's the kind of thing that happens in government if a snap decision is made, and the problem here is the president didn't take several days and get together with his Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State and say 'is there anything I should consider here?'" Woolsey told Tuesday's "Newsmax Now."
"And somebody was likely to say, 'well, they've got 50 of our nuclear weapons, we gotta get 'em back.' So, you really need to discuss the issue and wring out the possibilities. The president makes quick decisions, and some of the times they're good quick decisions, I think, but foreign policy is not a very good thing to do very, very quickly."
Woolsey, who served as CIA director under ex-President Bill Clinton, said President Trump has given up leverage a negotiator usually holds close.
"I think the lack of leverage puts us in a situation in which we're asking the Turks 'pretty please,' and historically I don't think that's worked real well with Turks," Woolsey said of getting the nuclear weapons out of Turkey if relations completely break down.
As for "what can go wrong?" with President Trump's quick hook on troops in Syria, Woolsey pointed back to nuclear weapons and a potential technological attack that can cripple the U.S. on its homeland.
"What can go wrong is technology," Woolsey said. "Syrians and maybe the Turks are not too far away – and certainly the Iranians are not too far away at all – from having a small, simple nuclear weapon that could be detonated on a satellite and knock out our electronics."
Important: Find Newsmax TV in 70 million U.S. cable homes on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Optimum Ch. 102; U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Spectrum, Suddenlink, Wow! or More Systems Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.