New insights from a recent CIA memo suggest that former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey may have misrepresented facts while asserting that the untrustworthy Steele dossier was not a basis for the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). This assessment claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had influenced the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump.
These assertions seemingly contradict fresh evidence from a review conducted by the CIA in June. Commissioned by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the review indicated that Brennan had indeed pushed for the ICA to incorporate aspects of the Steele documents.
The Steele documents were compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent, through Fusion GPS, a research firm contracted indirectly by Hillary Clinton’s campaign via the law firm Perkins Coie.
Many reputable media outlets, including The New York Times, have expressed skepticism about the reliability of Steele’s documents. The CIA’s Associate Director of Analytics reportedly informed Brennan in an email on December 29 that they would be assessing the overall reliability of these documents, as stated in the memo.
This raises serious doubts regarding Brennan’s previous testimonies, with potential implications of perjury. During a May 2023 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, he maintained that the CIA did not rely on the Steele dossier. When pressed about whether the CIA had ever used the dossier as part of any applications or assessments, Brennan repeatedly denied it, asserting that it was never part of the intelligence corpus.
Brennan had previously claimed in 2017 that he hadn’t even read the dossier. Other senior intelligence officials from the Obama era echoed his statements, asserting that the information within the dossier was not considered reliable at that time.
The denial appears to be mainly supported by Appendix A of the ICA, which clarifies that while Steele’s documents were considered, they weren’t formally included in the assessment body. Brennan and Comey have faced backlash for their handling of this information, with some CIA officials voicing their concerns that the inclusion of Steele’s documents didn’t meet fundamental intelligence standards.
Furthermore, the CIA memo suggests that Brennan paid more attention to the documents’ alignment with existing theories than to the legitimate concerns regarding their authenticity.
These revelations have provoked strong reactions, with critics—including former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright—calling for accountability for Brennan, Comey, and others involved in the alleged conspiracies within the Obama administration and Clinton campaign.
Both Brennan and Comey are currently under federal criminal investigation, following Ratcliffe’s disclosures regarding fraudulent activities linked to the FBI. The situation continues to develop as more information becomes available.
