A longtime MSNBC on-air terrorism and national security analyst is now fighting Russians in Ukraine.
Malcolm Nance, a former naval intelligence officer who became executive director of The Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies after leaving the service, appeared on Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. program Monday from a “secure location,” where he revealed that he had joined the “International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine,” essentially a Ukrainian version of the French Foreign Legion.
Nance has been an MSNBC analyst since 2007, according to his LinkedIn page, appearing on a number of shows to discuss intelligence-, insurgency- and national security-related topics.
An MSNBC spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter Monday that Nance “is not a contributor” with the cable news channel, though it is not clear when he parted ways with the network. He was identified as an MSNBC analyst on-air as recently as Feb. 28, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had already begun.
On Reid’s show Monday, Nance appeared on-air in full camo, wearing body armor bearing the Ukrainian and American flags, and holding an assault rifle.
“The more I saw of the war going on, the more I thought, ‘I’m done talking, all right? It’s time to take action here,’” Nance told Reid. “I am here to help this country fight what essentially is a war of extermination. This is an existential war and Russia has brought it to these people and they are mass-murdering civilians, and there are people here like me who are here to do something about it.”
