John Ratcliffe and Politicizing Intelligence
Ratcliffe Released Declassified Material On Clinton’s 2016 Campaign Ahead Of The 2020 Election That Was Rejected By A Bipartisan Senate Committee
Ratcliffe Approved Selective Declassifications Of Intelligence That Aimed To Score Political Points
Ratcliffe Approved Selective Declassifications Of Intelligence That Aimed To Score Political Points. According to the New York Times, “He [Ratcliffe] has approved selective declassifications of intelligence that aim to score political points, left Democratic lawmakers out of briefings, accused congressional opponents of leaks, offered Republican operatives top spots in his headquarters and made public assertions that contradicted professional intelligence assessments.” [New York Times, 10/9/20]
Before The 2020 Election, Ratcliffe Declassified Russian Material On Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Campaign
Ahead Of The 2020 Election, Ratcliffe Decided To Release Unverified Intelligence On Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Campaign. According to the New York Times, “None of the moves have dismayed his critics, or intelligence officials inside the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency, as much as Mr. Ratcliffe’s decision to release unverified intelligence last week that mentioned Hillary Clinton. Intelligence professionals said the material could be Russian disinformation, but even if its substance — that Russian intelligence had information that Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign planned to tie Mr. Trump to the Kremlin’s election hacks — were true, it hardly demonstrated anything nefarious about her.” [New York Times, 10/9/20]
John Ratcliffe and Criticism From The Intelligence Community
Ratcliffe Earned Criticism From The Intelligence Community
Ratcliffe Scaled Back In-Person Election Security Briefings To Congress In The Months Before The 2020 Election
Ratcliffe Defended His Decision To Scale Back In-Person Election Security Briefings To Congress Ahead Of The 2020 Election. According to Fox News, “Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe defended his decision to scale back in-person election security briefings to Congress in favor of written reports and accused members of Congress of leaking information ‘within minutes’ of briefings. Ratcliffe told ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ he had been going above and beyond in briefing ‘not just the oversight committees but every member of Congress’ but will no longer do so. ‘Within minutes of one of those briefings ending, a number of members of Congress went to a number of different outlets and leaked classified information for political purposes,’ Ratcliffe told host Maria Bartiromo. ‘To create a narrative that simply isn’t true, that somehow Russia is a greater national security threat than China.’” [Fox News, 8/30/20]
Ratcliffe Told Lawmakers That Providing Written Briefings Would Better Protect Sources And Methods. According to Fox News, “On Friday, Ratcliffe told lawmakers that his office ‘will primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed leading into the Presidential election through written finished intelligence products.’ He wrote that it would better protect sources and methods while ensuring that it reflects ‘the highest analytic standards.’” [Fox News, 8/30/20]
Providing Only Written Briefings Denied Lawmakers The Opportunity To Ask Questions About The Intelligence
Providing Only Written Briefings Denied Lawmakers The Opportunity To Ask Questions About The Intelligence. According to Fox News, “House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., accused the Trump administration of pushing a false narrative to downplay Russian interference in the 2020 election. ‘They’re going to put it in writing now instead of giving an oral briefing. That doesn’t make any sense unless the goal is not to allow members of Congress, the representatives of the American people, to ask questions,’ Schiff told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday. ‘Concealing the truth is concealing Russians are again intervening to help the president in his reelection,’ Schiff said.” [Fox News, 8/30/20]
Intelligence Officials Said Ratcliffe Endangered The Agencies’ Intelligence Collection Network With His Declassifications
Current And Former Intelligence Officials Said Ratcliffe Endangered The Agencies’ Intelligence Collection Network With His Aggressive Declassifications. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Ratcliffe, current and former intelligence officials said, endangers the agencies’ intelligence collection network with his aggressive declassifications by risking the exposure of C.I.A. sources and National Security Agency methods of intelligence gathering. A memo he declassified on Tuesday, for example, could give Russian intelligence important clues about how the C.I.A. gathered information in 2016, according to two people familiar with the intelligence.” [New York Times, 10/9/20]
The C.I.A. And The National Security Agency Objected To Ratcliffe’s Declassifications
The C.I.A. And The National Security Agency Objected To Ratcliffe’s Declassifications. According to the New York Times, “Though the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency have already objected to Mr. Ratcliffe’s declassifications and would almost certainly try to block further releases, Mr. Trump has also given Attorney General William P. Barr the authority to declassify intelligence agencies’ secrets as part of the Justice Department investigation into the origin of the Russia inquiry.” [New York Times, 10/9/20]