Former spy chief Richard Grenell accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and his team of leaking classified intelligence.
In a tweet posted on Thursday, reacting to the California Democrat’s charges that he politicized the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Grenell also claimed that Schiff refused to cooperate with his office on reforms for the U.S. intelligence community.
“Schiff & team regularly leaked classified information,” Grenell said in a list of “facts.” He also said, “Schiff wouldn’t return my call to coordinate on DNI reforms,” adding: “The reforms were asked for by career officials for years.”
In addition, Grenell noted that Schiff “complained” when he appointed the first female head of counterterrorism, referring to his selection of Lora Shiao, a longtime counterterrorism intelligence veteran, to be the National Counterterrorism Center’s next deputy director. Grenell also stressed that she was a “career person.”
Facts:
-Schiff wouldn’t return my call to coordinate on DNI reforms.
-the reforms were asked for by career officials for years.
-Schiff complained when I appointed the 1st female head of counterterrorism (a career person).
-Schiff & team regularly leaked classified information. https://t.co/FQgQzLga95— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) January 22, 2021
Schiff’s office did not immediately return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment Thursday night on Grenell’s accusations, but he did deny leaking classified intelligence last year when then-President Donald Trump suggested he made disclosures for political gain after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence informed Congress that the intelligence community would not give in-person election security briefings to lawmakers.
“I haven’t. My staff hasn’t. I can’t speak for what all the members of the committee have done or not done, including a lot of the Republican members,” Schiff told CNN’s Dana Bash after she asked if he or other Democrats on the panel have leaked classified information. Schiff also said such leaks are “always improper” and that “sometimes, they’re illegal.”
John Ratcliffe, who was director of national intelligence at the time, said he would inform Congress of election security threats in writing instead of using in-person briefings. “I believe this approach helps ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that the information ODNI provides the Congress … is not misunderstood or politicized,” he wrote in a letter to Congress.
Schiff did raise concerns in the spring when Shiao was elevated to head of counterterrorism, but his criticism was directed more broadly at the larger shake-up of the intelligence community.
The comments this week that miffed Grenell focused on his time as acting director of national intelligence last year, as well as his Senate-confirmed successor, Ratcliffe.
“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, probably the most devastated of all of the agencies by terrible leadership of people like Rick Grenell and John Ratcliffe,” Schiff said, adding that they “bent intelligence work products to the president’s will.”
Schiff also complimented President Biden’s picks for leadership in the intelligence community, including Avril Haines, who was quickly confirmed by the Senate on Inauguration Day to be the new director of national intelligence, asserting that she will “do a lot of rebuilding” of morale and trust. In addition, Schiff said he was glad Biden is keeping Christopher Wray on as FBI director.
Shiao briefly, for roughly a day, served as acting director of national intelligence until Haines was installed.
The back-and-forth between Grenell and Schiff followed White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirming on Thursday that Haines has been asked to put together an intelligence assessment about possible Russian interference in the 2020 election, alleged bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the poisoning of Russian dissident leader Alexei Navalny.
