The head of FBI counterintelligence refused to say whether 50 former intelligence officials signing the letter baselessly alleging Russian involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop stories in October 2020 harms the trust the public has for the U.S. intelligence community.
Alan Kohler, the assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division since early 2020, declined to answer the question during a “Counterintelligence Today” event held at the Michael V. Hayden Center on Tuesday. Mirriam-Grace MacIntyre, executive director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, also didn't answer.
David Priess, a former CIA analyst and manager who moderated Tuesday’s Hayden Center event, signed the Hunter Biden laptop letter in October 2020 and defended his decision to sign it in October 2022. He refused to comment on Tuesday.
During the talk, Kohler discussed malign foreign influence operations, mentioned Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Russian influence operations in the United States, and spoke extensively about the FBI trying to be more forward-leaning about sharing threats with the public and encouraging people to reach out to the FBI. MacIntyre said there was a key outreach function to private sector entities at risk of being targeted by foreign intelligence. She said her group issues warnings on foreign intelligence risks and emphasized outreach to U.S. industry and state and local leaders.
The Washington Examiner pointed to the extensive comments Kohler and MacIntyre had just made about the importance of outreach to U.S. businesses, political leaders, and the public when warning the U.S. about foreign influence operations, and the Washington Examiner asked the duo if 50 of their former intelligence community colleagues signing a letter that wrongly insinuated the existence of a foreign influence operation tied to the Hunter Biden laptop was something that could harm the public's trust in the intelligence community and thus could harm their ability to warn the public about actual foreign influence operations.
The Washington Examiner also asked Priess about his thoughts on all of that.
All three declined to answer.
Priess claimed that “that’s not related to the counterintelligence of foreign actors, so I think we’ll probably move on unless you want to take it, Alan.” Kohler waved off the question and simply replied, “No.” MacIntyre didn’t say anything.
“We’re good,” Priess said as he moved on to another question.
Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen admitted on Tuesday at another event that the Biden administration’s FISA renewal effort faced a "trust" problem with Congress and the U.S. public.
Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign quickly dismissed the laptop story as a Russian disinformation operation. After the New York Post published emails belonging to his son, Biden called the story “garbage” and part of a “Russian plan” during an October 2020 debate with then-President Donald Trump.
Biden said at the time: “There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said this is, has all the — four, five former heads of the CIA. Both parties say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage.”
He was referring to a Politico report about the letter in an article titled “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” The title was a bit misleading because the letter never directly called the story Russian “disinformation.”
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Although the October 2020 letter hedged a bit at various times, it did repeatedly contend there was Russian involvement with the laptop stories, arguing that “if we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election” and expressing “our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue.” The letter claimed that the laptop saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” and that “our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”
Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe responded in October 2020 that there was “no intelligence” to support that the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.