PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Intelligence Agencies Don’t Agree on Election Hacking
Dec. 14, 2016 (EIRNS)—U.S. Intelligence agencies are backing off from the assertion that there was a Russian cyber intervention in the U.S. election, if any of them actually ever entertained it.
As the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) Dec. 12 statement points out, if there were hacking, it would be easy to trace who carried it out, what was hacked, and where it went.
Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI) James Clapper, who oversees the 17-agency-strong U.S. intelligence community, believes there is no conclusive evidence that Russia was looking to help Trump. Three American officals told Reuters, "ODNI is not arguing that the Agency [CIA] is wrong, only that they can’t prove intent," said one of the officials. One of the DNI officials said the CIA conclusion was a
"judgment based on the fact that Russian entities hacked both Democrats and Republicans, and only Democratic information was leaked. [It was] ‘a thin reed’ upon which to base an analytical judgment,"
the official said.
On Dec. 11, NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers said at the Halifax International Security Forum, that the release of hacked emails did not affect the 2016 presidential election: "I don’t think in the end the DNC document dump had the effect [the hackers] had hoped it would," The Hill reported.
U.S. Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson said U.S. authorities
"did not see anything that amounted to altering ballot counts or degrading the ability to report election results—nothing out of the ordinary—we see no evidence that hacking by any actor altered the ballot count or any cyberactions that deprived people of voting,"
Johnson told the Washington Post Tuesday, Sputnik reported.
On Dec. 9, CIA chief John Brennan told the Washington Post that there was evidence that Russia had interfered in the election to boost Trump—though the Agency did not have any specific intelligence showing Russia’s involvement.
CNN reported that the FBI did not believe that there had been Russian hacking.
On Dec. 9, Sputnik reported that Obama had ordered a review of cyberattacks and "foreign intervention" in the U.S. Presidential election. Obama’s Homeland Security Advisor, Lisa Monaco, said the Administration would undertake a full review before Obama leaves office.
On Dec. 12, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) rejected bipartisan calls for his panel to open a new investigation on the matter..
