Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May. 5, 2020.

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May. 5, 2020. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool

Intelligence Experts Suspicious of DNI Ratcliffe On Laptop Story

The chief of the U.S. intelligence community appeared to pre-judge the conclusions of an active FBI investigation.

If the FBI is still working to determine whether a dubious New York Post story was the fruit of a Russian disinformation campaign, then why did the nation’s top intelligence leader denounce the notion on TV this morning?

That’s what some veteran intelligence professionals are asking after Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told Fox Business that the Post story and a laptop that purportedly belonged to Joe Biden’s son are “not part of some Russian disinformation campaign” and “The intelligence community doesn't believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that.”

“If the issue is being investigated as part of Russian interference into the election, it's hard to believe it would be wrapped up yet,” said Matthew Miller, who led the Justice Department's public affairs office from 2009 to 2011. “The whole thing is utterly confusing, which is why Ratcliffe shouldn't be weighing in at all. If there is an investigation, it should be conducted quietly and the government should speak with a credible voice when they have something definitive to tell the public. Obviously, Ratcliffe isn't a credible voice, and it seems pretty clear he's just playing the political role he was appointed for in the first place.”

The DNI “violated several cardinal rules” Monday morning, said Ned Price, a former CIA intelligence analyst who served as a National Security Council spokesperson and as a Special Assistant to President Barack Obama. “Among them, he inserted himself in the middle of a partisan issue, he at the very least lent the appearance that he was boosting the President's campaign, and he appears to have gotten ahead of intelligence analysis and law enforcement investigations.” 

Price noted that even if Ratcliffe’s account is true and the intelligence community has not yet found evidence directly linking the reported laptop contents to a hostile foreign actor, that didn’t mean that such evidence didn’t exist. “That's to say nothing of a reportedly ongoing law enforcement investigation into the matter, which no federal official should ever prejudge or prejudice, as Ratcliffe appeared to do,” he said.

Elizabeth Neumann, who served as a Department of Homeland Security official during the George W. Bush and Trump administrations, said that it would be highly unusual for such an investigation to conclude so quickly and that there were just too many unknowns to be able to make an informed comment on the origins or the veracity of the laptop story. 

“I don’t trust Ratcliffe’s statement,” Neumann said. “The circumstances smell very suspicious. We have the U.S. government intelligence folks and the Homeland Threat Assessment acknowledging that Russia’s intent is to weaken our country that we cannot oppose them when they carry out their longer-term agenda (like invading sovereign countries, human rights abuses, arms sales to terrorists and dangerous countries and bullying in the Middle East). If this was them, it aligns with what we think their objective is: create division and discord, chaos etc. and help Trump.” 

It’s possible that Ratcliffe may not have known much about the investigation, which was reportedly briefed to Congress last week. A former Department of Homeland Security official said that the counterintelligence investigations are very closely held and it was “possible he hasn’t been read in.”

Clinton Watts, a senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University and a former FBI special agent said “I cannot imagine that the FBI would in any way be able to determine if this was [Russian] disinformation before the election. This takes at a minimum weeks or months.” He said that the FBI would probably not comment on-the-record about an active investigation.

“There are multiple reports of warnings that the Russians would launch a disinformation campaign related to Hunter Biden and Burisma. [Former New York mayor and Trump backer Rudy] Giuliani is the source of this story as far as I can tell and we saw that someone he was interacting with, [Andriy Derkach, a Kremlin ally sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury] has been assessed as a Russian agent and Derkach has tried multiple times to disseminate conspiracies about Hunter Biden and Burisma. How can the DNI determine with any certainty at this point that this laptop is not an extension of a Russian campaign through Derkach?”

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said, “We have nothing to provide beyond what the DNI said on Fox Business this morning.”

Also on Monday, the Department of Justice indicted six Russian GRU hackers for various cybercrimes, including attacking the 2017 French presidential elections and the NotPetya attack that crippled infrastructure across the globe that same year. Justice Department officials highlighted the time and rigor it takes to publicly attribute cybercriminals in places like Russia. 

“For more than two years, we have worked tirelessly to expose these Russian GRU Officers who engaged in a global campaign of hacking, disruption and destabilization, representing the most destructive and costly cyber-attacks in history,” U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady for the Western District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. 

FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said, “this indictment also highlights the FBI’s capabilities.  We have the tools to investigate these malicious malware attacks, identify the perpetrators, and then impose risks and consequences on them.  As demonstrated today, we will relentlessly pursue those who threaten the United States and its citizens.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.