An associate of Obama-era Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reportedly threatened to block a senior intelligence officer’s promotion unless he approved the contested Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s non-role in the 2016 election.
According to newly surfaced documents, the incident occurred during a 2017 exchange between an ODNI analyst and an unnamed aide to Clapper. The analyst was allegedly told he must “outgrow” his reluctance to sign off on reports he hadn’t personally reviewed if he wanted to advance in his career.
“You need to trust me on this,” the senior official allegedly told the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst. “I need you to say you agree with these judgements, so that DIA will go along with them,” the superior said, according to the analyst’s summary of the conversation.
This update follows DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s recent declassification of documents showing that Clapper, alongside then–CIA Director John Brennan and then–FBI Director James Comey, signed off on an Intelligence Community Assessment asserting that Russian interference had swung the 2016 election in President Trump’s favor. That assessment suggested the Kremlin acted to benefit Trump and set in motion the Russia collusion investigation that dominated much of his first term.
A 46-page report released by DNI Tulsi Gabbard reveals that senior national security officials suppressed evidence indicating that Russian interference had little to no impact on the outcome of the 2016 election. Among the key documents is a Presidential Daily Briefing dated December 9, 2016—prepared for President Obama—which explicitly concluded that Russia did not significantly influence the election results.
Despite later confirmation from multiple intelligence officials that Russia had not swayed the vote, these findings were omitted and contradicted in the subsequent Intelligence Community Assessment.
According to an individual familiar with the matter, the DIA analyst who raised these concerns only recorded his recollection of a 2017 conversation in March 2023. He had initially tried to alert the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General, then Special Counsel John Durham, and finally Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) before the information was formally documented.
The analyst refused to sign off on the bogus intel, meaning that the DIA ultimately did not join the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency (NSA) in signing off on the final versions of the ICA. “I remember this conversation very clearly,” the analyst explained, stressing “it was a difficult situation and I listened, and chose my responses, with care.”
