CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a review of the intelligence community’s analysis of Russian influence during the 2016 election, condemning Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan for opening a “very politicized inquiry” against the agency’s standards.
The “lessons-learned review” identified “multiple procedural anomalies in the preparation of the 2016 [Intelligence Community Assessment] (ICA), such as a compressed timeline, uneven access to compartmented information, marginalization of the National Intelligence Council, and excessive involvement of agency heads,” a CIA press release explains. “The review notes that adhering to established analytic processes and rigorous tradecraft is essential to ensure credibility, objectivity, and accuracy of CIA analysis.”
According to the review, the decision by CIA heads to “include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.”
“The ICA authors first learned of the Dossier, and FBI leadership’s insistence on its inclusion, on 20 December—the same day the largely coordinated draft was entering the review process at CIA,” the review states. Several CIA managers opposed the Dossier’s inclusion, arguing that incorporating it risked the paper’s credibility.
“Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness,” the review criticized. “When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders—one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background—he appeared more swayed by the Dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”
Ratcliffe said in a statement upon the review’s release, “Agency heads at the time created a politically charged environment that triggered an atypical analytic process around an issue essential to our democracy. Under my watch, I am committed to ensuring that our analysts have the ability to deliver unvarnished assessments that are free from political influence.”
Ratcliffe further stated on social media that the review allows the world to “see the truth: Brennan, Clapper and Comey manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.”
