Declassified emails show James Clapper’s dismissive response to intel community concerns over Russia election interference report

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was adamant about “stickin’ to” the narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump, despite concerns raised by a top intelligence official, top secret emails show. 

Clapper described the Obama administration’s effort to “Russia Election Meddling” as a “team sport,” and one that may require the IC to “compromise” its standards, Director of National intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed Wednesday. 

Former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers warned that his team had concerns about the rush to get the report out and their lack of access to the “underlying intelligence” being used to produce the “joint product related to Russian attribution and intent for the DNC/DCCC hacks,” according to a declassified Dec. 22, 2016, email from the intelligence official to Clapper, ex-CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey. 

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“I know that this activity is on a fast-track and that folks have been working very hard to put together a product that can be provided to the President,” Rogers wrote in the email. “However, I wanted to reach out to you directly to let you know of some concerns I have with what I am hearing from my folks.” 

“Specifically, I asked my team if they’d had sufficient access to the underlying intelligence and sufficient time to review that intelligence. On both points my team raised concerns,” the former NSA director stated.

“I’m concerned that, given the expedited nature of this activity, my folks aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments,” Rogers continued, noting that he wasn’t expressing a substantive disagreement with the report’s conclusion. 

“I do want to make sure that, when we are asked in the future whether we can absolutely stand behind the paper, that we don’t have any reason to hesitate because of the process,” he added. “I know that you agree that this is something we need to be 100% comfortable with before we present it to the President –  we have one chance to get this right, and it is critical that we do so.” 

“I’m concerned we are not there yet.” 

Rogers said he would “stand down on these concerns” if the report didn’t have to be co-authored by the NSA, but for his agency to sign-off, he would need to see “even the most sensitive evidence related to the conclusion.” 

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Clapper urged the NSA to fall in line in his short response to Rogers. 

“Understand your concern. It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page. and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re stickin’ to it,’” Clapper wrote back.  

The ex-DNI went on to shut down any talk of “more time” being needed. 

“We will facilitate as much mutual transparency as possible as we complete the report … but, more time is not negotiable,” Clapper insisted.   

“We may have to compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities, since we must do this on such a compressed schedule,” he added. 

“This is one project that has to be a team sport,” Clapper demanded. 

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The exchange came days after a Dec. 9, 2016, meeting between former President Barack Obama, Clapper, Brennan and other top administration officials, during which the president demanded a report detailing the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.”

The previous intelligence community assessment, rejected by Obama, determined that “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” 

The NSA would go on to sign-off of the new report, along with the CIA and FBI.

warpath against the actors behind the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, said Clapper’s email “reinforces what we already exposed.” 

“[T]he decision to compromise standards and violate protocols in the creation of the 2017 manufactured intelligence assessment was deliberate and came from the very top,” Gabbard said in a statement. 

“Clapper’s own words confirm that complying with the order to manufacture intelligence was a ‘team sport,’” she added.