The Senate Intelligence Committee has released an Unclassified Summary of its findings as to the validity of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) of Russian election interference.
The bipartisan committee led by Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) concludes the ICA is correct and that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the effort to sow discord, hurt Hillary Clinton, and help Donald Trump.
From the press release:
“The Committee has spent the last 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the Intelligence Community Assessment and sees no reason to dispute the conclusions,” said Chairman Burr. “The Committee continues its investigation and I am hopeful that this installment of the Committee’s work will soon be followed by additional summaries providing the American people with clarity around Russia’s activities regarding U.S. elections.”
“Our investigation thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the January 2017 ICA, which assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to target our presidential election and to destabilize our democratic institutions,” said Vice Chairman Warner. “As numerous intelligence and national security officials in the Trump administration have since unanimously re-affirmed, the ICA findings were accurate and on point. The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump. While our investigation remains ongoing, we have to learn from 2016 and do more to protect ourselves from attacks in 2018 and beyond.”
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The Committee held a closed door hearing in May to review the ICA on “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections.” Members heard testimony from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan and former Director of the National Security Agency Mike Rogers, which informed the Committee’s report.
From the summary:
The committee found no evidence of political influence or bias.
The committee agrees Putin worked to sow discord, hurt Clinton, and aid Trump.
The committee says the Christopher Steele dossier in no way informed or influenced the ICA.
Intel Committee Releases Unclassified Summary of Initial Findings on 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (press release)