WikiLeaks made good on a threat to publish five private emails from CIA Director John Brennan’s personal email account on Wednesday. While they contained no bombshells, that could change Thursday with the release of more documents.
The emails, which were dated July 2007 to November 2008, included memos Brennan authored on Iran policy and intelligence challenges in the 21st century; one classified letter from former Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., that effectively called on the Select Committee on Intelligence to ensure the legality of waterboarding suspected terrorists; correspondence related to a dispute between the CIA and a company for which Brennan served as CEO called The Analysis Corporation; and a copy of the SF-86 form Brennan completed to obtain a security clearance in 2009.
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The site also posted the text of a 2008 bill authored by Bond called the “Limitations on Interrogation Techniques Act,” which would have effectively legalized waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques. That legislation was already part of the public domain, so it’s unclear why WikiLeaks posted it.
Several media outlets used a skeptical tone in their reporting on the story, expressing reservations about whether the documents were genuine. However, with the exception of exposing his wife’s Social Security number, none of the documents was exceptionally revelatory.
On Wednesday evening, WikiLeaks tweeted that more is coming.
“Tomorrow we continue our @CIA chief John Brennan email series, including on US strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. #AfPak #CIA.”
Brennan, who was appointed to lead the CIA by President Obama in 2013, served from 2009-2013 as the president’s homeland security adviser. Prior to that, he served for a little under a year as the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center under President George W. Bush.
In the documents, Brennan gave his thoughts on organizational bureaucracy, advising that the director of national intelligence and the director of the CIA be made 10-year appointments, with confirmation by the Senate. He also criticized Bush’s Iran policy, calling his rhetoric on Iran “gratuitous.”
That’s notable in the sense that he once served in the intelligence community under Bush, but not necessarily shocking in light of his 2008 service as a national security adviser to Obama during his first presidential campaign.
The most scandalous facet of the situation is the fact that Brennan’s personal email account was so insecure. WikiLeaks presumably obtained the documents from a perpetrator who told the media this week that he had breached Brennan’s account by tricking Verizon workers into providing some of his basic personal information.
Most of the media’s accounts have referred to the perpetrator as a “hacker” in spite of the fact that such a technique requires no technical knowledge or, for that matter, virtually any ability to operate a computer. The perpetrator, who has spoken with both Wired and the New York Post, appears to be making little effort to hide. He was described by the Post as a pot-smoking teenager.
Nonetheless, the FBI and Secret Service have been unable to locate him since the breach was initially reported on Sunday.
