Statecraft

James Clapper: John Brennan is Fired, the CIA Report is Rescinded, the Russians Did Not “Hack” the Election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Office of the Director of Central Intelligence

I have demanded the resignation of John Brennan and I am officially rescinding the CIA report on Russian interference in the US election. The CIA has no sources worthy of consideration, and their analysis is without foundation.

There is no question but that the Russians – as well as the Chinese, French, Germans, Israelis, and many others – have been doing cyber-espionage against all US institutions, including political institutions. In no way does this possibly justify the conclusion that the Russians or anyone other than our two political parties – have sought to “hack” our election — or come remotely close to doing so even if they were trying to do so.

I will briefly address the important distinctions among hacking, leaking, and manipulating electronic information.

To hack means to gain unauthorized access. Generally state actors who gain unauthorized access seek to conceal the fact of their access; they do not leak information because it reveals their success.

To leak means to share information – whether accessed as an authorized insider or stolen as an unauthorized outsider – so as to achieve a political, economic, cultural, or social effect.

To manipulate means to alter – either words in the case of emails, creating false impressions; or in the case of electronic voting machines, actually re-directing votes to achieve a predetermined outcome.

Based on my own personal review of all available sources, both classified and unclassified, I believe the following to be true...