Newly declassified emails revealed that in the final weeks of the Obama administration, then–Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told top officials they would have to “compromise on our ‘normal’ modalities” to complete the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian election interference, despite warnings from the National Security Agency director that analysts had not been given enough time or access to fully vet the intelligence.
The correspondence, revealed Wednesday by current National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard in a post on X, captures a rare internal clash at the highest levels of the intelligence community during the drafting of one of the most politically consequential reports in recent history, which led to years of unsubstantiated allegations by the press and political opponents of President Donald Trump that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
