-Source-NBC-
They put their lives on the line in foreign war zones, conducted secret missions to collect valuable intelligence and made enormous sacrifices for their country — only to see their former colleagues disrespected by President Donald Trump.
Now, driven by the president's conduct, they're taking matters into their own hands and gearing up for a different challenge: running for Congress as Democrats.
Fed up with what they see as Trump's disdain and distrust of the intelligence community — and his refusal to embrace fully the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — an unusually large number of former intelligence officers and operatives are campaigning for office as Democrats in this fall's midterm elections, according to experts.
For many — like Abigail Spanberger in Virginia's Richmond-area 7th Congressional District and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan's Lansing-area 8th Congressional District — it's a matter of restoring respect for the agencies they gave so much of themselves to.
All agree that their decision to run began with the current commander in chief.
"It's incredibly disappointing," Spanberger, who served as a CIA officer in the U.S. and abroad for eight years before moving back to Virginia in 2014, told NBC News. "To have a president who doesn't see your work as service to the nation, work that is meant to help him, it's hard to see."
Slotkin, who was a Middle East analyst for the CIA, did three tours in Iraq, and worked in the State and Defense Departments in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, said she's been dismayed that the sacrifice she and her former colleagues made would be disregarded. Read more
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