Two former CIA officials are concerned about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her eagerness to release top secret information that could compromise sources and methods for agents.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Gabbard's indiscriminate way of releasing classified documents regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election angered many career intelligence experts. Gabbard published the information with minimal redactions.
"Gabbard, with the blessing of President Donald Trump, overrode arguments from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that more of the document should remain classified to obscure U.S. spy agencies’ sources and methods, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others interviewed for this report, because of the matter’s sensitivity," said the report.
While CIA Director John Ratcliffe has been supportive of the release of information, those who actually work in intelligence have concerns about the release, but also that the characterization of the evidence is false. Gabbard and Trump claimed that their evidence proved that Russia did not hack the 2016 election votes. However, that was never part of the allegations. Russians hacked the Democratic and Republican Party servers and leaked information from the former. Russian-funded content farms generated scores of memes and posts spreading conspiracies about Hillary Clinton while being supportive of Trump.
"Multiple independent reviews, including an exhaustive bipartisan probe by the Senate Intelligence Committee, have found that Putin intervened in part to help Trump," characterized the Post.
The investigation documents contain multiple references to human sources that detail Putin's plans. Those sources are among the "most closely guarded secrets," the report said. "After the report was completed in 2020, it was considered so sensitive that it remained in storage at the CIA rather than on Capitol Hill."
Larry Pfeiffer, a former senior CIA and White House official, revealed on an episode of the “SpyTalk" podcast that the report had "sources and methods" that "could easily" be "inferred in almost every instance."
"I don’t know if I’ve seen a document of that sensitivity so lightly redacted," he said of the release from Gabbard.
The report released went through multiple reviews, but the once-secret document was "circulating" among Trump administration staff. Gabbard was the one who wanted to release as much as possible.
Gabbard “has greater declassification authority than all other intelligence elements and is not required to get their approval prior to release," said one person familiar with the process when speaking to the Post.
Trump then decided there would be "minimal redactions and no edits," the person added.
Sen. Mark. Warner (D-VA) called Gabbard's release of the report "desperate and irresponsible," and said it threatens some of the Intelligence community's "most sensitive sources and methods" it uses to spy on Russia and keep Americans safe.
“And in doing so, Director Gabbard is sending a chilling message to our allies and assets around the world: the United States can no longer be trusted to protect the intelligence you share with us," he warned.