In an article published Tuesday in Consortium News, former intelligence professionals Ray McGovern and William Binney issue what is, in effect, a policy statement: In order to force into the open the illegal activities of the “Deep State,” of intelligence officials engaged in constant surveillance of all elected officials, key appointees of the government, and of course Trump’s campaign team, President Trump and Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, must not back down.

Trump’s response, in particular, is crucial, they warn. Will he choose the road less traveled by?

“His choice may decide whether there is a future for this constitutional republic.”

The issue, they assert, was never wiretapping but surveillance. Wiretapping is passe, so when Trump used that term, the intelligence agencies could self-righteously claim they never did such a thing. But, “were Trump and his associates surveilled? Wake up America…the reality is that everyone, including the President, is surveilled.” The fear these surveillance capabilities strike in the hearts of U.S. government officials, was reflected in Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) warning to MSNBC TV host Rachel Maddow, that the intelligence agencies “have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you” if you dare buck them.

In the House Intelligence Committee hearing March 20, much to the discomfort of FBI director Comey, Rep. Nunes—MgGovern and Binney note he has a healthy independent streak—zeroed in on the “dragnet” deployed by intelligence agencies to pick up communications by Trump’s advisors and then “unmask” the names before leaking them to the media. After appealing to anyone with knowledge of this to come forward, Nunes got a call from an intelligence source on March 21 while riding in his car, and went to the Old Executive Office Building, where he was shown the intercepts’ intelligence.

According to informed sources, Nunes’ source was someone in a position to know that former DNI director James Clapper and former CIA head John Brennen used the British spy agency GCHQ for surveillance purposes. McGovern and Binney note that Nunes didn’t take this information to ranking committee member Adam Schiff (D-CA), but rather directly to the President, even though this involved “a high political cost.” The real threat isn’t from the Democrats, they underscore, but from the “Deep State actors” waging war on the Presidency. 

Speaking with the Fox News program “Tucker Carlson Tonight” March 28, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), warned that the person who leaked details of Gen. Michael Flynn’s phone calls with Russian ambassador Kislyak had broken the law.

“That’s the felonious dissemination of classified material,” Gowdy emphasized.

Defending Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Gowdy said that his colleague has acted exactly as a chairman should.

“When you have a source that has information, you handle that information safely, securely, which is exactly what he did.” Nunes’s point is, he said, “I want to know whether or not other people have been unmasked—even though you don’t know about it publicly yet.” Gowdy took aim at FBI Director James Comey, whom he criticized for not revealing whether the Bureau is investigating the Flynn leak. The issues of Trump’s ties to Russia, and leaking of Flynn’s [or others’] names, are “both in the national interest,” Gowdy told Carlson. “One happens to be a felony, so I was a little surprised and a little disappointed that [comey] can’t at least tell us [that] `We are investigating a felonious dissemination of classified material.'”

As for those calling for Rep. Nunes to recuse himself or step down, Gowdy told The Weekly Standard that “Jesus would not be a satisfactory chairperson to some of my Democratic colleagues. They would complain about his hair… I did this for 20 years. I’ve never met a defense attorney who didn’t complain about the prosecutor, usually when they don’t have good facts. This is a factual investigation.”

Sources cited by Fox News say that the FBI is not cooperating with the House investigation, unlike the NSA. A source close to the House investigation told Fox that leaks from the foreign surveillance transcripts that reference Flynn, “could have come from the FBI.” Moreover, multiple sources suggest that “British Intelligence also passed along information to U.S. intelligence agencies.”

Note, that today, Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano returned to the air, nine days’ after being “fired”; he stuck to his story that three sources had told him the Obama White House asked British Intelligence GCHQ to conduct surveillance of Trump’s transition team, and that it was done.