A former CIA chief of staff and White House Situation Room senior director warns that politicized intelligence can weaken national security by chilling truth telling, hollowing out institutions, and discouraging young talent from entering public service.

Former senior CIA operations officer Jim Lawler sits down with Larry Pfeiffer, former senior director of the White House Situation Room and chief of staff to CIA Director Michael Hayden, who describes the rigors of working in the Situation Room, crisis decision-making, and what it takes to deliver accurate information when seconds matter.

He describes advising Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, helping portray the White House Situation Room with realism and showing audien ...