Philip Giraldi, former CIA officer and current executive director of the
Council for the National Interest, has dissected public statements
regarding the claims that Russia hacked the Democratic Party on behalf
of Trump, and has concluded that evidence is lacking.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton winks at a supporter
after speaking at a campaign rally at the Iowa State Historical Museum
in Des Moines,
Clinton Campaign Backs Electors Calls for Intelligence Briefing
In a report for American Conservative, Giraldi detailed that the CIA
report claims to represent intelligence community consensus on the
issue, and that the use of the word “consensus” implies that there was
dissent over the conclusions.
He also noted that there is a suggestion
that not all representatives of the community signed off on the final
draft.
“It is also important to note how critics of Russia in Congress,
including Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, are already
exploiting the allegations to block any possible initiatives by Trump to
improve ties with Moscow, which might have serious consequences down
the road,” Giraldi noted.
Giraldi explained that, to understand what is being alleged, one must
rely on media reports from shadowy “unnamed sources,” as neither the CIA
nor the White House has made public the classified report.
“Some anonymous government officials are reportedly conceding that the
direct link from the Russian government to the actual hackers and then
on to the disseminators of the information is lacking,” Giraldi wrote.
“If the intelligence community is nevertheless claiming that they know
enough to conclude that it was directed from the top levels of the
Russian government, then they should be able to produce documentary or
other evidence of officials’ ordering the operation to take place.”
In other words, Giraldi observed, if the CIA wants to maintain
credibility, it must produce the report containing the evidence, and
that evidence must be clear, even if the document contains redactions.
“Do they have that kind of information? It is clear that they do not, in
spite of their assertion of ‘high confidence,’” Giraldi said.
“And
there is a suggestion by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, a persistent
critic of Russian spying who is on the House Intelligence Committee,
that the information they do have consists of innuendo and is largely
circumstantial.”
After repeatedly mocking competitors, Hacking Team is now scrambling to
alert global customers that its software has been compromised.
© Flickr/ Brian Klug
Claim That US Election Could Be Hacked Just a 'Headline-Grabbing Media
Invention'
Instead, Giraldi believes that the intelligence community simply has
bits and pieces of information it has gleaned over the previous election
cycle. The former CIA officer stated that his ex-employer and its
allied security groups in the US are likely presuming that it was the
Russian government.
Giraldi believes that because of former-candidate Hillary Clinton’s open
hostility toward Russia, and Trump’s eagerness to mend fences, it would
be unsurprising if the Kremlin sought to bolster the Trump campaign in
support of their own self-interest.
“The CIA certainly uses its media assets worldwide to place stories
supportive of politicians and parties favored by the administration in
power in Washington,” he said. “I would have to assume that President
Barack Obama has, for example, approved CIA-generated favorable press
coverage of endangered politicians like Chancellor Angela Merkel of
Germany, whose policies he strongly supports.”
The spy-turned-pundit suggested that the lesson to be learned here is
not that Russians allegedly promoted a candidate they favored, or that
information shared digitally is no longer private, it is that there are
consequences for aspirants to high office if they are careless with
their words.
“The lesson is not that the Russians spied on the United States and
covertly assisted a candidate they favored. That should be a given, well
understood by people in the White House and elsewhere in the
administration,” Giraldi said, also noting, “That information is no
longer private in an age where electronic intrusion or hacking can be
run out of someone’s garage should also be a given. But when aspirants
to high office are careless in what they say, when they say it, and how
they communicate to associates, there will be consequences.”
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