蜜芽传媒

The former head of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, has insisted that the intelligence agencies would have been unable to prevent the shootings in Orlando.

The gunman Omar Mateen was interviewed three times by the FBI, but agents concluded he was not a threat.

General Hayden - who also oversaw the National Security Agency - told World At One presenter Martha Kearney there was little that surveillance could have done to stop such attacks without changing the nature of a free society.

(Photo: Rainbow flag is waved during a White House vigil for the victims. Credit: Reuters)