WASHINGTON – Former CIA director Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke earlier this week.

A statement released Friday by Hayden's family says that he "is receiving specialized medical care".

Hayden, 73 years old and retired Air Force General, led the CIA under President George W. Bush from 2006 to early 2009. He was also director of National Security Agency from 1999 to 2005.

He is currently a visiting professor at George Mason University, Virginia, where he founded the Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy and International Security.

He also works as a national security analyst at CNN, where he has often criticized President Donald Trump. He published this year a book titled "The Assault on Intelligence: US National Security in the Age of Lying".

Hayden was one of the former officials whose security clearance is being reviewed by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has also asked officials to review the authorizations of former CIA director John Brennan, former FBI director James Comey, of the former Director of Intelligence Services, James Clapper, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

More: President Trump plans to revoke security clearances for former US officials

More: Donald Trump revokes security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan

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Sarah Sanders, press secretary, said at a press conference at the White House that the president felt that these former officials were "politicized and in some cases monetized for their public service" .
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"They politicize and, in some cases, actually monetize their public service and security clearance by baseless accusations of inappropriate contact with Russia," said Sanders.

Brennan, who has held leadership positions in the administration of President George W. Bush and was CIA director under President Barack Obama, is the only one to have lost his authorization so far.

Hayden, a frequent critic of Trump, said in August, after Brennan's revocation of the authorization, that he would be honored if the president revoked his authorization.

"Frankly, if its non-revocation of my authorization gave the impression that I had somehow moved my comment in a more acceptable sense for the White House, I would find it very disappointing and frankly unacceptable," he said. he told CNN at the time.

Contribute: Christal Hayes

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