Michael J. Morell, former deputy director of the CIA and a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. director since 2014, has been granted a temporary leave of absence from the Akron tire-maker to work for the Hillary for America presidential campaign.
Goodyear announced the leave of absence, effective Aug. 3, in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is one of 13 directors on the Goodyear board.
Morell is also a native of Cuyahoga Falls.
Goodyear’s SEC filing in full reads: “Effective August 3, 2016, the board of directors of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company granted Director Michael Morell’s request for a temporary leave of absence from his duties as a director due to his new role working with the Hillary For America campaign. Mr. Morell will not be a member of any committees of the board and will not receive any compensation for service as a non-employee director during his leave of absence.”
The New York Times on Friday published an op-ed piece by Morell in which he criticized Republican candidate Donald Trump as possibly posing a threat to national security, saying Trump has characteristics that suggest “he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.”
In the column, Morell wrote in part that “in the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Morell said he worked alongside Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state and that he will “do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.”
He wrote that he is neither a registered Democrat nor a Republican and that until now had been silent about his preference for U.S. president. The column does not say that Morell is working with the Hillary For America campaign.
Morell was named to the Goodyear board in January 2014. He was acting director and deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and first joined the agency as an analyst in 1980.
“We are pleased to have Michael Morell join the Goodyear Board of Directors,” Richard J. Kramer, chairman and chief executive officer, said in the 2014 news release. “He brings to our board outstanding leadership skills and a global perspective gained during the course of three decades of distinguished service to the United States. We look forward to adding his skills and expertise to our board.”
Morell has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Akron and a master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ