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At a hearing today, Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana) today said it was “astounding” that anyone would question the credibility of our intelligence agencies.

The nation's top intelligence official said Thursday Russia undoubtedly interfered in America's 2016 presidential election but stopped short of the explosive description of "an act of war," telling lawmakers such a call isn't within the purview of the U.S. intelligence community. In a joint report that roiled the presidential campaign last fall, the Homeland Security Department and the intelligence community said the U.S. was confident of foreign meddling, including Russian government hacking of Democratic emails. In its assessment, the intelligence community has said Moscow interfered in the election to help Republican Donald Trump win.

The FBI is supporting the CIA’s belief that Russia interfered with the United States presidential election in order to support the Republican candidate, and eventual winner, Donald Trump. CIA Director John Brennan sent an email to his employees that he spoke with FBI Director James Comey and director of national intelligence James Clapper about their agreement in Russia’s involvement. “I met separately with FBI (Director) James Comey and DNI Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election,” said Brennan in the email, according to the Washington...

It’s been more than a few months since we first began discussing the obvious internal conflict between White Hats and Black Hats within the Obama intelligence and national security agencies. Today, we see exactly how bad the fracture has become. As further evidence of the politicization of the CIA (Central Intelligence), headed by John Brennan; and DNI (Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper, the agencies are refusing to brief congress on their claim the “Russians Hacked the U.S. Election”.

National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney explains how the secretive agency runs its pervasive domestic spying apparatus in a new piece by Laura Poitras in The New York Times. Binney—one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history—worked for the Defense Department's foreign signals intelligence agency for 32 years before resigning in late 2001 because he "could not stay after the NSA began purposefully violating the Constitution." In a short video called "The Program," Binney explains how the agency took part of one of the programs he built and started using it to spy on virtually every U.S....

BEIRUT: The U.S. has omitted Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terror threats, according to an annual security assessment published by the Times of Israel Monday. The unclassified report, titled ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ was presented to the U.S. Senate by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence on February 26. The report has excluded Iran and Hezbollah from its list of terror threats to U.S. interests, after both had been included as threats in previous years. In a 2014 report the National Intelligence director said that Iran and Hezbollah continue to directly threaten the...

The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed. The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Action has been delayed, some administration officials said, because relieving Rogers of his duties is tied to another controversial recommendation: to create separate chains of command at the NSA and the

The heads of the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community have recommended to President Barack Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Admiral Michael Rogers, be removed from his position, sources familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The recommendation by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, first reported by The Washington Post, was delivered to the White House last month. Obama chose Rogers to take over at the NSA in 2014 and tasked him with repairing the damage after the huge leaks about its electronic spying program by contractor Edward Snowden. But...

Those who enjoy the deep weeds of politics, especially White Hat/Black Hat intrigue, will find this Reuters Story popcorn worthy. The Back Story – Admiral Michael Rogers, not to be confused with former House Intel Chair Rep. Mike Rogers, is the Director of the NSA (National Security Agency) and U.S. Cyber Command. Admiral Michael Rogers met with President-Elect Trump, somewhat quietly, last week (Thursday).

CNN)Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the House Select Committee on Intelligence Thursday he had submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday night. "(I) submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good," he said before the panel of lawmakers, in response to the top Democrat on the panel joking he hoped he would stick around for another four years. "I have 64 days left and I'd have a pretty hard time with my wife going past that," Clapper told California Rep. Adam Schiff, who also paid his respects to Clapper's service as the hearing opened.

"(I) submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good," he said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday it was “probably a lost cause” trying to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons capability. But a State Department spokesman said that was not the Obama administration’s position — denuclearization of the peninsula remains the goal. “I think the notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize is probably a lost cause,” Clapper said at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “They are not going to do that. That is their ticket to survival.” Clapper said from Pyongyang’s perspective, “they are under siege and they...

Two days before the Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of hacking Democrats, NYTimes reports that a man identified as a "Russian hacker suspected of pursuing targets in the United States" was arrested in the Czech Republic. While the arrest was made on Oct 5th, officials stated that "we postponed the announcement for tactical reasons," which makes one wonder whether this is the debate-day-distraction Hillary needs? The United States director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., said in a statement on Oct. 7 that high-level Russian officials were trying to interfere with American elections. “The recent disclosures of...

In August of 2012, Barack Obama established a red line against Syria as a warning to not use chemical weapons against rebel forces, including ISIS. When a chemical attack outside Damascus killed more than 1,400 people there was a lot of finger pointing and saber rattling. Obama did nothing. A year later Syrian President Bashar al Assad voluntary turned over his chemical weapons for destruction. And now, three and a half years after Assad's act, America's top intelligence official confirmed that ISIS has been manufacturing and deploying chemical agents in Iraq and Syria During testimony before the Senate Armed Services...

"There is no stipulation anywhere that requires a security clearance for a presidential candidate. The fact that they're a candidate qualifies them," says James R. Clapper Jr., the director of National Intelligence. Donald Trump will begin to get intelligence briefings now that he is the official GOP candidate for president. Both Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will get briefings as soon as next week, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of National Intelligence, said Thursday during the Aspen Security Forum. Although Trump is a notorious tweeter and Clinton has been on the hot seat for her email server, Clapper...

U.S. spy agencies are preparing to deliver a classified briefing to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the nation’s intelligence director said Thursday, despite deep unease among many spy officials with the real estate mogul’s pro-Russian rhetoric. National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper Jr. indicated that Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are eligible to receive intelligence briefings within days of the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.

A few weeks after leaving office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have breathed a sigh of relief and reassurance when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied reports of the National Security Agency eavesdropping on Americans. After all, Clinton had been handling official business at the State Department like many Americans do with their personal business, on an unsecured server. In sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 12, 2013, Clapper said the NSA was not collecting, wittingly, “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans,” which presumably would have...

"From our standpoint, it’s not a good thing," Clapper said of accelerated advancements in encryption technology. Whistle-blower Edward Snowden, by leaking classified data two years ago, contributed to the acceleration of sophisticated encryption methods that militants are using to hide their communications, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said Monday. The rapid advancement of commercially available encryption software is proving to be a difficult obstacle in detecting potential threats, he said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "From our standpoint, it's not a good thing," he said of the rapidly advancing encryption, adding that the software has had...

As increasing numbers of devices connect to the internet and to one another, the so-called internet of things promises consumers increased convenience – the remotely operated thermostat from Google-owned Nest is a leading example. But as home computing migrates away from the laptop, the tablet and the smartphone, experts warn that the security features on the coming wave of automobiles, dishwashers and alarm systems lag far behind. ... James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, was more direct in testimony submitted to the Senate on Tuesday as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States. "In the...

The U.S. intelligence community has retreated from claims that two emails in Hillary Clinton’s private account contained top secret information, a source familiar with the situation told POLITICO. The determination came from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s office and concluded that the two emails did not include highly classified intelligence secrets. Concerns about the emails' classification helped trigger an on-going FBI inquiry into Clinton's private email set-up.