The Office
of the Director of National Intelligence has informed Congress that it will no
longer hold in-person briefings on election safety and election interference
with intelligence committees. NBC News' Ken Dilanian reports
CONGRESS
Dems outraged as Trump administration scales back
election security briefings
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe
indicated that leaks from Congress were the reason for ending in-person
briefings.
By BETSY
WOODRUFF SWAN, ANDREW DESIDERIO, NATASHA BERTRAND and DANIEL LIPPMAN
08/29/2020
01:42 PM EDT
Updated:
08/29/2020 11:11 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/29/odni-to-scale-back-election-security-briefings-404919
The Office
of the Director of National Intelligence is scaling back its election security
briefings to Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter and
documents reviewed by POLITICO.
ODNI told
the House and Senate intelligence committees that it will still provide written
briefings, but that they should not expect verbal, in-person briefings on the
topic, according to a congressional official and letters dated Aug. 28 that
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sent to top members of
Congress. Ratcliffe indicated in those letters that leaks from Congress were
the reason for ending in-person briefings.
The move
has enraged congressional Democrats, who have long charged the Trump
administration with downplaying threats to U.S. elections from foreign actors,
especially Russia. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Chairman
Adam Schiff said in a statement that ODNI canceled separate briefings that had
been scheduled for September before the intelligence committees and all members
of Congress.
“This is a
shocking abdication of its lawful responsibility to keep the Congress currently
informed, and a betrayal of the public’s right to know how foreign powers are
trying to subvert our democracy,” Schiff and Pelosi said.
Sen. Marco
Rubio, acting chair of the Senate intelligence committee, and Sen. Mark Warner,
the committee's vice chairman, released separate statements on the
administration's decision, with Rubio excoriating those who leak classified
information while urging Ratcliffe to "continue to fulfill" his
obligations to fully brief Congress, and Warner casting the decision as
"outrageous" and "an unprecedented attempt to politicize"
the issue.
ODNI
decided to scale back the briefings because classified material from recent
briefings leaked out, according to a U.S. intelligence official and a
congressional official in touch with the office. CNN first reported the
development.
ODNI
officials were particularly angry about a leak from an all-House classified
briefing led by top counterintelligence official Bill Evanina late last month,
where Pelosi accused him of keeping Americans in the dark about the details of
Russia’s continued interference in the 2020 campaign.
Evanina
ultimately acknowledged in that briefing that Russia is again trying to boost
President Donald Trump’s reelection and denigrate his opponent, Joe Biden. In a
statement at the time, an ODNI official said Evanina was “incredibly
disappointed in the inability of some to protect classified information they
are legally obligated to safeguard and instead attempt to use it for partisan
gain.”
During a
roundtable in Orange, Texas, on Saturday, Trump blamed House Democrats for
leaking information.
"Director
Ratcliffe brought information into the committee, and the information
leaked," Trump said. "Whether it was Shifty Schiff or somebody else,
they leaked the information. … And what’s even worse, they leaked the wrong
information. And he got tired of it. So he wants to do it in a different forum,
because you have leakers on the committee.”
White House
chief of staff Mark Meadows added, "[Ratcliffe's] going to make sure that
there’s proper tools for their oversight and make sure they contain it in a way
that does not jeopardize sources and methods for the intel that we’ve
got."
Biden,
meanwhile, said in a statement the move was "nothing less than a shameless
partisan manipulation to protect the personal interests of President
Trump."
"There
can be only one conclusion: President Trump is hoping Vladimir Putin will once
more boost his candidacy and cover his horrific failures to lead our country
through the multiple crises we are facing," the Democratic presidential
nominee added.
On the more
recent moratorium on verbal briefings, an ODNI official provided this statement
to POLITICO: “We are committed to meeting our statutory responsibilities and
keeping Congress fully and currently informed. For clarity and to protect
sensitive intelligence from unauthorized disclosures, we will primarily do that
through written finished intelligence products. We are concerned about
unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information following recent briefings.
The DNI is committed to ensuring Congress is fully and currently informed and
that classified information is protected.”
Ratcliffe
explained the decision to the Hill in letters to the heads of the House
Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees’ subcommittees on defense, and the top two Democrats
and Republicans in the House and Senate. The House Intelligence Committee did
not receive such a letter until hours after the news was publicly reported,
according to an aide, who said the panel received verbal notification without
an additional explanation.
Ratcliffe
hinted at friction in prior election security briefings.
“While many
of these engagements and products have been successful and productive, others
have been less so,” he wrote.
“In order
to ensure clarity and consistency across the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence's (ODNI's) engagements with Congress on elections, the ODNI will
primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed
leading into the Presidential election through written finished intelligence products,”
he continued.
Ratcliffe
also hinted at prior unauthorized disclosures of classified material.
“I believe
this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the
information ODNI provides the Congress in support of your oversight responsibilities
on elections security, foreign malign influence, and election interference is
not misunderstood nor politicized,” he wrote. “It will also better protect our
sources and methods and most sensitive intelligence from additional
unauthorized disclosures or misuse.”
FBI
Director Chris Wray also recently dodged Democrats’ requests for all-member
briefings.
In response
to their requests that he brief the full House and Senate on election threats,
Wray wrote a letter to Sens. Chuck Schumer and Warner and Reps. Pelosi and
Schiff on August 21 indicating that while he shared their concerns, the member
briefings were being led capably by Evanina along with select FBI personnel and
other national security officials, according to two people who have seen the
letter.
He also
mentioned the FBI’s Protected Voices program, an initiative begun in 2018 that
aims to help political campaigns and individuals protect themselves against
foreign influence operations and cybersecurity threats. ODNI has not clarified if
Evanina will give in-person briefings on election security to all members of
Congress in the future.
Kyle Cheney
and Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
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