The Weekly Standard: A CIA Agent of Change?http://www.weeklystandard.com/a-cia-agent-of-change/article/2003802What kind of leadership does he have in mind? Politically, McMullin is a down-the-line conservative: He's pro-life, considers himself an originalist on judicial questions, and argues that regulatory uncertainty and government interference hurts job creation. He cites Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom and Milton Friedman as formative influences on his political views, in addition to his Mormon faith. One of the reasons he believes Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson is a nonstarter as an alternative is the former New Mexico governor's position on religious liberty, which McMullin calls "awful" and dismissive of our founding.
On entitlements and health care, he says he aligns with the reform proposals of House speaker Paul Ryan and the Republican conference. He says Trump's opposition to any entitlement reform is "ridiculous." "We've got to do it in a way so that our seniors today are protected, that their benefits are protected. And so we need reforms that put entitlements on a more sustainable track," McMullin says.
But it's in foreign policy and national security that McMullin is the most fluent. When I ask which books have influenced his thinking, he mentions Robert Kagan's The World America Made. But he says his experience in the clandestine service, more than anything, has informed his view that the fight against terrorism requires a change from the current strategy. "One major motivator for my entering the race is simply that I feel like we're doing a terrible job fighting terrorism now, and I feel like both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are woefully unprepared to confront that challenge," he says.
