Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) called on Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan's resignation on Tuesday.Bond said Brennan, with whom he's tangled publicly over the Obama administration's handling of the attempted bombing of a flight on Christmas, to resign. Brennan "needs to go," Bond said in an interview with National Review Online, a stance that was confirmed later by a spokeswoman.
"A drastic change in policy is needed," Bond said. "Our problem now is that we have to wonder whether we can trust [Brennan] after he has been a mouthpiece for the political arm that I thought only came out of the White House press office."
Bond, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has clashed openly with Brennan and the Obama administration in regards to the handling of suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's alleged attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Republicans have complained that the administration was too quick to treat Abdulmutallab as a criminal suspect and read him his Miranda rights. Bond, along with his House counterpart, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), have also raised questions about the White House's revelation of certain facts about the investigation.
Brennan shot back at Republican critics in an op-ed for USA Today on Tuesday, accusing them of undermining national security in their criticism.