Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency under President George W. Bush, says if Donald Trump follows through as president with some of the military actions he has promised as a candidate, many people in the military will simply refuse his orders.
The former spy chief, speaking on NewsMaxTV's The Hard Line on Monday, said such a scenario would create a civil-military crisis.
Trump has advocated for the use of torture and said that he would kill the families of terrorists.
"All of us in uniform give great deference to the elected officials of the United States," Hayden said. "We want to follow their orders, but, there are some cases and I'm afraid, Mr. candidate Trump has suggested some cases, where if he did those things as president, that he said he would do while he was a candidate, there would be a lot of people in an American military uniform, myself included, who would simply have to say, 'that's not just gonna happen, sir. I'm sorry. We won't do that.' And that would create torque, that would create that crisis in civi-military relations."
Hayden added, "I do recognize the tension that would be created if a President Trump governs the way a candidate Trump has spoken."
Still, Hayden said he didn't foresee an "insurrection."
"I don't think we're anywhere near an insurrection," Hayden said.