CIA Director John Ratcliffe has declassified an internal review detailing serious procedural failures and political interference during the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian election interference in the 2016 election.
The review, conducted by veteran CIA professionals, identified multiple tradecraft violations in the ICA process, including a rushed timeline, unequal access to compartmented intelligence, the sidelining of the National Intelligence Council, and unusually heavy involvement by agency heads. According to the findings, these irregularities undermined the objectivity and credibility of the final assessment.
The declassified documents also reveal that the now-debunked Steele dossier played a direct role in shaping the ICA’s conclusions. Contrary to years of media denials, the dossier was referenced not only in an annex but also in the main body of the highly classified version of the report. CIA emails from late 2016 show that then-Director John Brennan insisted on including the dossier material despite warnings from senior analysts that doing so would damage the ICA’s credibility. In a December 29, 2016 email, the CIA’s Deputy Director for Analysis cautioned Brennan that incorporating the Steele dossier risked compromising the entire assessment.
The review further confirmed that Brennan, along with then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, met before the ICA was finalized and agreed on a narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Donald Trump win the election. The CIA’s Foreign Influence Task Force and other key intelligence components such as the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research were largely excluded from the process—despite their usual roles in such assessments.
In a statement, Ratcliffe said the declassification aims to promote transparency and analytic integrity:
”Agency heads at the time created a politically charged environment that triggered an atypical analytic process around an issue essential to our democracy,” Ratcliffe said. “Under my watch, I am committed to ensuring that our analysts have the ability to deliver unvarnished assessments that are free from political influence.”
View the lessons-learned review
Read the CIA Press Release
Analysis of declassified review: Paul Sperry
