As suggested to Jim Clapper via email.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Office of the Director of National 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:
01 NSA and CIA have been spying on US politicians and US political organizations with impunity. The loss of integrity by NSA and CIA is a much greater threat to our Constitution and our Republic than any cyber-espionage by the Russians or anyone else.
02 According to William Binney, an NSA whistle-blower, the leaks from the Democratic National Committee were done by NSA insiders furious over the willful misbehavior of Hillary Clinton and her staff in the handling of classified information. According to Julian Assange the Russians did not provide this information. According to Ambassador Craig Murray, who met the provider of this information, it was a US insider, not a Russian. James Bamford, the noted author who knows more people across NSA than I ever will, has also challenged the veracity of the claim that the Russians leaked the DNC emails.
03 With respect to the hacking of John Podesta’s emails, all available information suggests that this was a singleton hacker who appears to have routed their phishing expedition via Russia's Yandex service – getting Podesta to change his email using a link they provided – and the release of Podesta’s emails was a hacker transparency action rather than a state-sponsored covert influence action. There is some evidence to suggest that the hacker who approached Podesta, although he/she routed their attack through Yandex, a provider in Russia, does not speak Russian, which most Russians do.
04 The 650,000 emails alleged to have been found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop by the NYPD – including emails showing the transmission of classified information to IP addresses in Saudi Arabia and Qatar – are not yet a matter of public record, having been promptly sequestered by the FBI, but they merit comment because they were noted by the US public and can specifically not be blamed on the Russians.
05 Finally we have the matter of electronic vote tampering. Stanford University has demonstrated that Hillary Clinton stole 13 primaries from Bernie Sanders. Later, when she started trying to blame the Russians for her loss of standing in public polls, this had the unintended effect of leading DHS to closely monitor electronic voting, and may have stopped Hillary Clinton from using the same electronic fraud methods against Donald Trump. There is absolutely no evidence that the Russians or anyone other than US political insiders, have sought to or succeeded in electronic ballot tampering or the many other forms of electoral fraud.
06 I note with sadness that the media – the so-called fourth estate – has been completely lacking in intelligence and integrity. The New York Times and The Washington Post have been particularly reckless and irresponsible in taking at face value anonymous sources making undocumented claims.
Based on all of the above, I am informing the Electoral College that the President’s original validation of the election outcome should be taken at face value; that the CIA report is rescinded and John Brennan dismissed from service; and that they should comply with their Constitutional duties as directed by their various state protocols.
Finally, I am asking the Director of the FBI to create a task force to examine all possible instances of NSA and CIA spying on Members of Congress and on the President of the United States. This is not our proudest moment and I am deeply ashamed to be ending my career on this note, but I will not leave this office without putting a stop to this nonsense about the Russians hacking our election and without instigating a counterintelligence investigation against all those – including John Brennan and all prior directors of NSA – who have violated their Oaths of office in turning our clandestine and covert technical surveillance capabilities against our own politicians and our own political organizations.
I apologize to the public, to the President, and to all of you.
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The media, and citizens, can learn more via the below chronology.
