After a delay earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s top spy chief has informed the Senate Intelligence Committee that he is willing to appear before the panel for a worldwide threat hearing in early August that is only partly open to the public.
The terms laid out on Tuesday by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who has overseen the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies since taking over for former Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell in May, will likely rankle Democrats not only because of the format but also because the House Intelligence Committee has yet to receive such an opportunity.
In his letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman from Texas and a Trump ally, said he wants only opening statements to be aired public and everything else, including questions, moved to a closed setting due to the classified nature of the information.
“During my nomination hearing before your Committee in May, I indicated that, if confirmed, I would appear as the Director of National Intelligence at a worldwide threat hearing. I remain committed to doing so,” Ratcliffe said.
“I will appear before your Committee for an open and closed hearing session” during the week of Aug. 3, he said, saying that it would coincide with appearances by CIA Director Gina Haspel, FBI Director Christopher Wray, NSA Director General Paul Nakasone, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp.
“During the open session, the IC could provide an unclassified Statement for the Record to provide transparency. Each panel member could also provide individual opening remarks on global threats to more fully meet the public interest,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Following any remarks you wish to make and opening remarks form the panel, a closed session with a thorough change of classified questions and answers between the panel and committee members could be conducted to ensure members receive the threat information they need.”
Earlier in the year, before Ratcliffe became spy chief, the intelligence community delayed such briefings not only because of logistics, but officials also told outlets such as Politico of their concerns that their findings could upset President Trump considering how in 2019 they broke with him on several national security matters, including Russia, North Korea, Iran, and the Islamic State. Republicans and Democrats have asked for the world threats briefing.
Ratcliffe’s request for a mostly closed session to discuss classified information is not without precedent. Then-DNI James Clapper sent a letter in 2013 to then-Chairman Dianne Feinstein of California and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss that said that “given the increasingly complex nature of the threats we face, and the challenges associated with discussing inherently classified matters at the unclassified level, I feel strongly that we should refrain from having open global threat assessment hearings.”
“We have learned that we can discuss matters pertaining to national security threats candidly and accurately most effectively only in closed sessions,” Clapper wrote in 2013. “As we have seen in the public discussion of national security events during the past several months, the difference between what we can say at the unclassified level in relation to what we can say at the classified ed level can and often does lead to confusion and misunderstandings about intelligence matters.”
Ratcliffe said he reached his decision to push more a classified closed-door questioning session “after consultation with other Intelligence Community element heads and with consideration for the collective concern about the exchange of information that is inherently classified.”
“You have my commitment to deliver timely, accurate, and objective intelligence and to speak truth to power, be that with Congress or within the administration,” Ratcliffe said in his opening statement during the Senate Intelligence Committee’s confirmation hearing in May. “Let me be very clear: Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide, if confirmed, will not be impacted or altered as a result of outside influence.”
When Republican Sen. Susan Collins asked Ratcliffe whether he would provide unvarnished intelligence even if he knew Trump would be unhappy with it and that it would put his job at risk, he said, “Of course.”
Collins also asked what Ratcliffe would do at a worldwide threats hearing if the intelligence community’s assessment included conclusions that Trump “vehemently disagrees with.”
“Senator, whether you’re talking about the president, whether you’re talking about [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi or [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, anyone’s views on what they want the intelligence to be will never impact the intelligence that I deliver. Never,” Ratcliffe said. “I won’t shade intelligence for anyone.”
Earlier this week, Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee, released a lengthy statement that said that “foreign interference in the U.S. electoral process represents an assault on the American people and their constitutional right to vote.” This followed comments by the candidate on Friday that he had started getting intelligence briefings and asserted the Russians “are still engaged in trying to delegitimize our electoral process” and that China “and others” are “engaged as well in activities that are designed for us to lose confidence in the outcome.”
Hours earlier, congressional Democrats revealed that they had sent a letter to Wray requesting that the bureau “provide a defensive counterintelligence briefing to all Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.” The Democrats claimed that “Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign” related to the 2020 election.
“Gang of Eight (and others impacted) were already briefed. Weeks ago. This request is a CYA,” Grenell tweeted in response.
Last week, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina released freshly declassified documents that cast doubt on the veracity of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier and undercut the theory of Russian collusion.
“My views are Russia meddled or interfered with active measures in 2016, they interfered in 2018, and they will attempt to do so in 2020,” Ratcliffe testified in May. “I’m for safe, secure, credible elections, and I will do everything that I can as DNI to ensure they are not successful.”
In March, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers they rejected a stream of media reports based on classified briefings on election security.
“The IC has not concluded that the Kremlin is directly aiding any candidate’s reelection or any other candidates’ election. Nor have we concluded that the Russians will definitely choose to try to do so in 2020,” the ODNI’s declassified fact sheet read. “This is not a Russia-only problem. China, Iran, other countries like North Korea and Cuba, and non-state actors all have the opportunity, means, and potential motive to interfere in the 2020 elections.”
The 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment, a 42-page document submitted by then-DNI Dan Coats, said that “threats to U.S. national security will expand and diversify in the coming year, driven in part by China and Russia as they respectively compete more intensely with the United States and its traditional allies and partners.”
