In October 2020, a controversy emerged involving data from a laptop that belonged to Hunter Biden that was abandoned at a computer shop in 2019.[1] On October 19, 2020, a group of 51 former senior intelligence officials, who had served in four different administrations, including the Trump administration, released an open letter stating that the release of the alleged emails by The New York Post "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation".
Three days prior to the letter's release, Rep. Adam Schiff stated in an interview with CNN, "Well we know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin... Clearly, the origins of this whole smear are from the Kremlin, and the president is only too happy to have Kremlin help and try to amplify it". During an interview with Fox News on October 19, 2020, Trump's National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe clarified the officials' statement, saying "there is no intelligence that supports that", and accused Schiff of mischaracterizing the views of the intelligence community by describing the alleged emails as part of a smear campaign against Joe Biden.[2] Schiff's spokesman accused Ratcliffe of "purposefully misrepresenting" Schiff's words.[3]
Further dispute over the interpretation of the letter arose when, on the day of its release, Politico published a story with the misleading headline, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say," though the body of the story did not support that wording. Instead, the story's lede accurately quoted the letter's words: "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation".[4] During the second 2020 presidential debate held on October 22, 2020, Joe Biden repeated the article's misleading claim in stating, "Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan".[5] He would later repeat the claim in a 60 Minutes interview held on October 25, 2020.[6]
Many Republicans and their allies have since cited the Politico headline to insist the intelligence community had lied for the benefit of Joe Biden in the election weeks later and The Wall Street Journal noted in 2022 how failure on the part of several media outlets to thoroughly investigate the Biden campaign's claims played a role in shaping public perception prior to the election.[7] On February 13, 2023, The Washington Post fact-checker wrote that the Politico headline "likely shaped perceptions of the letter that continue to this day."[8] Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asserted the letter's message had been distorted, saying "all we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation. Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear in paragraph five."[9] Another signer, longtime State Department and intelligence official Thomas Fingar remarked, "No one who has spent time in Washington should be surprised that journalists and politicians willfully or unintentionally misconstrue oral or written statements." Despite the criticism, Politico stood by the story.
On June 25, 2024, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee led by Jim Jordan released a report titled "The Intelligence Community 51: How CIA Contractors Colluded with The Biden Campaign to Mislead American Voters", which states that high ranking officials in the CIA "were made aware of the 'Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails' by 51 former intelligence officials prior to its approval and publication", and provides evidence that some of the letter's stated "former intelligence" signatories were working as paid contractors for the CIA at the time of the its publishing.[10]
| Name | Agency | Positions held | Current position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Clapper | DNI | Director of National Intelligence (2010–2017) Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency | CNN National Security Analyst | |
| Michael Hayden | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2006-2009) | George Mason University Visiting Professor | |
| Leon Panetta | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2009–2011) Secretary of Defense | ||
| John Brennan | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2013–2017) White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor Director, Terrorism Threat Integration Center Analyst and Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | NBC News and MSNBC National Security Analyst | |
| Thomas Fingar | DNI | Chair, National Intelligence Council (2005–2008) Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, Department of State | Stanford University, Payne Distinguished Lecturer National Committee on United States–China Relations, Board of Directors | |
| Rick Ledgett | NSA | Deputy Director of the National Security Agency (2014–2017) | M&T Bank, Board of Directors, | |
| John McLaughlin | CIA | Acting Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2004) Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency Director, Slavic and Eurasian Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency | Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence | |
| Michael Morell | CIA | Acting Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2012–2013) Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency | Beacon Global Strategies Senior Counselor | |
| Mike Vickers | DoD | Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (2011–2015)Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | BAE Systems Board of Directors | |
| Doug Wise | DIA | Deputy Director Defense Intelligence Agency Senior CIA Operations Officer | ||
| Nick Rasmussen | DNI | Director, National Counterterrorism Center (2014–2017) | ||
| Russ Travers | DNI | Acting Director, National Counterterrorism Center (2018–2020) Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia, Defense Intelligence Agency | Deputy Homeland Security Advisor | |
| Andy Liepman | DNI | Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | RAND Corporation, Senior Policy Analyst[11] | |
| John Moseman | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Congressional Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency Minority Staff Director, United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence | ||
| Larry Pfeiffer | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence AgencyDirector, White House Situation Room | Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, George Mason University, Director | |
| Jeremy Bash | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Staff, Department of Defense Chief Counsel, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence | Beacon Global Strategies, Managing Director | |
| Rodney Snyder | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Intelligence Programs, National Security Council Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Glenn Gerstell | NSA | General Counsel, National Security Agency | Beacon Global Strategies[12] | |
| David B. Buckley | CIA | Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency Democratic Staff Director, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Counterespionage Case Officer, United States Air Force | United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Staff Director[13] | |
| Nada Bakos | CIA | Analyst and Targeting Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | Foreign Policy Research Institute, Senior Fellow[14] | |
| Patty Brandmaier | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Associate Director for Military Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| James B. Bruce | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Senior Intelligence Officer, National Intelligence Council | RAND Corporation, Adjunct Researcher[15] | |
| David Cariens | CIA | Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Janice Cariens | CIA | Operational Support Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Paul Kolbe | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Chief, Central Eurasia Division, Central Intelligence Agency | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Senior Fellow[16] | |
| Peter Corsell | CIA | Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | I Squared Capital, Partner | |
| Brett Davis | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director of the Special Activities Center for Expeditionary Operations, CIA | New North Ventures, Partner[17] | |
| Roger Zane George | CIA | National Intelligence Officer | Occidental College, Professor | |
| Steven L. Hall | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency | CNN contributor | |
| Kent Harrington | CIA | National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Public Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Don Hepburn | CIA | Senior National Security Executive | Boanerges Solutions, President | |
| Timothy D. Kilbourn | CIA | Dean, Sherman Kent School of Intelligence Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer to President George W. Bush, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Ron Marks | CIA | Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Twice former staff of the Republican Majority Leader | George Mason University, Visiting Professor | |
| Jonna Hiestand Mendez | CIA | Technical Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Emile Nakhleh | CIA | Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, Central Intelligence Agency Senior Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | University of New Mexico, Director of National Security Programs[18] | |
| Gerald A. O'Shea | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Served four tours as Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| David Priess | CIA | Analyst and Manager, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency | Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, George Mason University, Senior Fellow [19] | |
| Pam Purcilly | CIA | Deputy Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency Director of the Office of Russian and European Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer to President George W. Bush, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Marc Polymeropoulos | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence AgencyActing Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia, Central Intelligence Agency | Atlantic Council, Nonresident Senior Fellow[20] | |
| Chris Savos | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Officer | ||
| Nick Shapiro | CIA | Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Director, Central Intelligence Agency | Tulane University[21] | |
| John Sipher | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency | Atlantic Council, Nonresident Senior Fellow[22] | |
| Stephen Slick | CIA | Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council Senior Operations Office, Central Intelligence Agency | University of Texas at Austin, Director of Intelligence Studies Project | |
| Cynthia Strand | CIA | Deputy Assistant Director for Global Issues, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Greg Tarbell | CIA | Deputy Executive Director, Central Intelligence Agency Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| David Terry | CIA | Chairman of the National Intelligence Collection Board Chief of the PDB, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer to Vice President Dick Cheney, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Greg Treverton | DNI | Chair, National Intelligence Council | University of Southern California, Professor | |
| John Tullius | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | Naval Postgraduate School, National Intelligence Chair[23] | |
| David A. Vanell | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Winston Wiley | CIA | Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency Chief, Counterterrorism Center, Central Intelligence Agency | ||
| Kristin Wood | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Non-Resident Fellow[24] |
In addition, nine additional former IC officers who cannot be named publicly also supported the arguments in this letter.