The Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that found Russia interfered in the 2016 election in an effort to help Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton is “a sound intelligence product.” The committee also said the ICA had provided a range of reporting to support its assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign aimed at the election, and that he and the Russian government had developed “a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
On Tuesday, the committee released the findings of its inquiry into the January 2017 assessment commissioned by President Obama. It stated that further details have come to light that “bolster” the ICA’s conclusions and that “all individuals the Committee interviewed verified that the [Steele] dossier did not in any way inform the analysis in the ICA.”
The committee did note one fault with the ICA. Suggesting that its treatment of the historical context of Russian interference was “perfunctory,” the committee said the ICA could have provided “a more relevant historic context” of previous efforts by Russia to interfere in U.S. domestic politics.
Of note, the committee’s report also says that it “finds the difference in confidence levels between the NSA and the CIA and FBI on the assessment that “Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances” appropriately represents analytic differences and was reached in a professional and transparent manner.” The CIA and FBI made their assessment with “high” confidence, while the NSA’s was only “moderate.”
The Senate committee’s findings are at odds with the House Intelligence Committee’s final report, which faulted the “analytic tradecraft” underlying the ICA’s conclusion that Putin’s strategic intention was to help Trump win.
Here is the Senate Intelligence Committee’s unclassified summary:
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