Former director of national intelligence James Clapper gets candid about Trump, Snowden and distrust of the intelligence community. Clapper's new book "Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence," details his take on events like the raid on Osama bin Laden, the Benghazi attack, the Snowden leaks and Russia's influence on the election. Clapper has 26 years of experience in the intelligence community under multiple presidents and served as the director from 2010 to 2017.

On "Salon Talks," Clapper shared with Salon's executive editor Andrew O'Hehir why there's often mistrust surrounding the intelligence community and an aura of mystery behind what goes on there. "The intelligence community has been asked to do not nice things by presidents who felt that there was a need for that. And then afterwards sometimes we change our moral standards and what was once okay, now is not-which is kind of a professional risk or hazard that those who serve in the intelligence community have, but I think there will always be this aura of suspicion," Clapper said. "There are rules and procedures for what we do, and we are oversighted by all three branches of the government. But, I think for some it will never satisfy the curiosity or the innate need to be assured that what we are doing is legal and appropriate."