DNI, CIA Director decry impact of intel leaks following Russia reports

Josh Feldman
Mediaite
Mon, 29 Jun 2020 18:45 UTC

The White House

The past few days have been dominated by multiple reports that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops. President Donald Trump has denied that he was briefed and tweeted Sunday night the intel agencies "did not find this info credible."

On Monday night, the Director of National Intelligence and the head of the CIA both put out statements decrying intelligence leaks.

DNI John Ratcliffe, who said Saturday that the president was not briefed "on any intelligence alleged by the New York Times in its reporting," put out a new statement saying:

"U.S. and coalition force protection is a critical priority for both the president and the intelligence community. The selective leaking of any classified information disrupts the vital interagency work to collect, assess, and mitigate threats and places our forces at risk. it is also, simply put, a crime."

Ratcliffe says they're still "investigating the alleged intelligence referenced" in the reports before adding, "Unauthorized disclosures now jeopardize our ability to ever find out the full story with respect to these allegations."

Around the same time, CIA Director Gina Haspel put out a statement that also criticized intel leaks:

"When developing intelligence assessments, initial tactical reports often require additional collection and validation. In general, preliminary Force Protection Information is shared throughout the national security community — and with U.S. allies — as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of coalition forces overseas. Leaks compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect assess, and ascribe culpability."

Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: [e-mail] Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac

Comment: The MSM mouthpieces, including the Associated Press are still trying to keep the "Russian bounty" story alive:

Unfortunately for AP, even the president's most ardent critics have declined to publicly corroborate their claim. John Bolton, who was serving as national security advisor at the time, declined to comment on whether he had briefed the president on the matter in March 2019. Undeterred, AP still reported that Bolton told colleagues that he had informed Trump about the bounties - citing unnamed sources.

The New York Times, referring to its own anonymous officials, claimed last week that Trump had known about the "bounties" for foreign troops since at least March of this year. The US president has denied that he was ever briefed on the matter accusing the "Fake News NYT" of peddling "another fabricated Russia Hoax."

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday that there was "no consensus within the intelligence community" that the allegation had merit, and therefore the information was never brought to Trump's attention.

The Pentagon disclosed that it was "evaluating" the claims but so far has found "no corroborating evidence to validate" the sensational media reports. For its part, Russia has dismissed the unverified story as nonsense, pointing out that the allegation coincides with Trump's move to withdraw US forces from the 19-year occupation of Afghanistan.

Yeesh. When even arch warmonger Bolton won't back the story, it should be clear it's pure fantasy.

New York Times takes anti-Russian hysteria to new level with report on Russian 'bounty' for US troops in Afghanistan