by WorldTribune Staff, January 23, 2025 Real World News
In an executive order signed hours after he was sworn in, President Donald Trump on Monday revoked the security clearance of 51 former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter which had insisted the Hunter Biden laptop carried “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
The letter was used by major media and social media platforms to withhold or outright ban reporting on the so-called "laptop from hell" that first appeared in the New York Post in October of 2020. Joe Biden also mentioned the letter in one of the presidential debates against Trump.
The executive order states: "Federal policymakers must be able to rely on analysis conducted by the Intelligence Community and be confident that it is accurate, crafted with professionalism, and free from politically motivated engineering to affect political outcomes in the United States. The signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions. This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country. And now the faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled."
Related: October 19, 2020: A letter that shall live in infamy, June 27, 2024
“They should be prosecuted for what they did,” Trump said of the 51 former officials during a campaign rally in June.
The executive order also directs the director of national intelligence to submit a report to the White House documenting “any additional inappropriate activity that occurred within the Intelligence Community, by anyone contracted by the Intelligence Community or by anyone who held a security clearance” related to the letter, as well as any recommended disciplinary action, within 90 days.
Trump also revoked the security clearance for his former national security adviser John Bolton.
"Bolton published a memoir for monetary gain after he was terminated from his White House position in 2019," the executive order states. "The book was rife with sensitive information drawn from his time in government. The memoir’s reckless treatment of sensitive information undermined the ability of future presidents to request and obtain candid advice on matters of national security from their staff. Publication also created a grave risk that classified material was publicly exposed."
The 51 "spies who lied":
1. Jim Clapper: Former Director of National Intelligence, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and Former Director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and Former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
2. Mike Hayden: Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Former Director of the National Security Agency, and Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
3. Leon Panetta: Former Director of the CIA and Former Secretary of Defense
4. John Brennan: Former Director of the CIA, Former White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor, Former Director of the Terrorism Threat Integration Center, and Former Analyst and Operations Officer of the CIA
5. Thomas Finger: Former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis, Former Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research at the Department of State, and the Former Chair of the National Intelligence Council
6. Rick Ledgett: Former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
7. John McLaughlin: Former Acting Director of the CIA, Former Deputy Director of the CIA, Former Director of Analysis at the CIA, and Former Director of Slavic and Eurasian Analysis at the CIA
8. Michael Morell: Former Acting Director of the CIA, Former Deputy Director of the CIA, and Former Director of Analysis at the CIA
9. Mike Vickers: Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Former Operations Officer, at the CIA
10.Doug Wise: Former Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA
11.Nick Rasmussen: Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
12.Russ Travers: Former Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Former Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Former Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia at the Defense Intelligence Agency
13.Andy Liepman: Former Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA
14.John Moseman: Former Chief of Staff at the CIA, Former Director of Congressional Affairs at the CIA, and the Former Minority Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
15.Larry Pfeiffer: Former Chief of Staff at the CIA and Former Director of the White House Situation Room
16.Jeremy Bash: Former Chief of Staff at the CIA, Former Chief of Staff at the DOD, and Former Chief Counsel of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
17.Rodney Snyder: Former Chief of Staff at the CIA, Former Director of Intelligence Programs of National Security Council, and Former Chief of Station at the CIA
18.Glenn Gerstell: Former General Counsel of the National Security Agency
19.David B. Buckley: Former Inspector General of the CIA, Former Democratic Staff Director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and a Former Counterespionage Case Officer in the United States Air Force
20.Nada Bakos: Former Analyst and Targeting Officer at the CIA
21.Patty Brandmaier: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA, Former Deputy Associate Director for Military Affairs at the CIA, and Former Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs at the CIA
22.James B. Bruce: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA and Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the National Intelligence Council and, according to James, he performed “[c]onsiderable work related to Russia”
23.David Cariens: Former Intelligence Analyst at the CIA and, according to David, he has “50+ [y]ears [w]orking in the Intelligence Community”
24.Janice Cariens: Former Operational Support Officer at the CIA
25.Paul Kolbe: Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA and Former Chief of the Central Eurasia Division at the CIA
26.Peter Corsell: Former Analyst at the CIA
27.Brett Davis: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA and the Former Deputy Director of the Special Activities Center for Expeditionary Operations at the CIA
28.Roger Zane George: Former National Intelligence Officer
29.Steven L. Hall: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA and the Former Chief of Russian Operations at the CIA
30.Kent Harrington: Former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the CIA, Former Director of Public Affairs at the CIA, Former Chief of Station at the CIA, and a Former Analyst at the CIA
31.Don Hepburn: According to Don, he is a “Former Senior National Security Executive”
32.Timothy D. Kilbourn: Former Dean of the Sherman Kent School of Intelligence Analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency and Former PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] Briefer to President George W. Bush at the CIA
33.Ron Marks: Former Officer at the CIA and, according to Ron, he was “[t]wice former staff of the Republican Majority Leader”
34.Jonna Hiestand Mendez: Technical Operations Officer at the CIA
35.Emile Nakhleh: Former Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program at the CIA and a Former Senior Intelligence Analyst at the CIA
36.Gerald A. O’Shea: Senior Operations Officer at the CIA and, according to Gerald, he “[s]erved four tours as Chief of Station at the CIA”
37.David Priess: Former Analyst and Manager at the CIA and, according to David, he is a “[f]ormer PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] Briefer at the CIA”
38.Pam Purcilly: Former Deputy Director of Analysis at the CIA, Former Director of the Office of Russian and European Analysis at the CIA and, according to Pam, she is a “[f]ormer PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] Briefer to President George W. Bush at the CIA”
39.Marc Polymeropoulos: Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA and Former Acting Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia at the CIA
40.Chris Savos: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA
41.Nick Shapiro: Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Director of the CIA
42.John Sipher: Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA and Former Deputy Chief of Russian Operations at the CIA
43.Stephen Slick: Former Senior Director for Intelligence Programs in the National Security Council and Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA
44.Cynthia Strand: Former Deputy Assistant Director for Global Issues at the CIA
45.Greg Tarbell: Former Deputy Executive Director at the CIA and Former Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia at the CIA
46.David Terry: Former Chairman of the National Intelligence Collection Board, Former Chief of the PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] at the CIA, and Former PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] Briefer to Vice President Dick Cheney at the CIA
47.Greg Treverton: Former Chair of the National Intelligence Council
48.John Tullius: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA
49.David A. Vanell: Former Senior Operations Officer at the CIA
50.Winston Wiley: Former Director of Analysis at the CIA and Former Chief of the Counterterrorism Center at the CIA
51.Kristin Wood: Former Senior Intelligence Officer at the CIA and Former PDB [Presidential Daily Brief] Briefer at the CIA
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