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Among those who signed the letter — and are named in Mr. Trump's order — are former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden and former CIA Director John Brennan. Two of the 51 signatories have since died.

On Sunday, December 22, a US Navy guided-missile cruiser, the USS Gettysburg, mistakenly shot down an American fighter jet over the Red Sea. This was not the first incident of friendly fire by the U.S. Navy, nor the most tragic. On Sunday morning, July 3, 1988, at the tail end of the Iran-Iraq War, an Aegis cruiser in the Persian Gulf, the USS Vincennes, fired two Standard Missiles at a commercial Iranian Airbus, IR 655. Captain Will Rogers III and his crew had mistaken the ascending passenger jet with 290 people on board for a descending Iranian F-14, a fighter...

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta referred to Israel’s pager operation as “terrorism” during a recent interview with CBS News. In Lebanon last week, mass explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to members of the Iran-back Shiite group Hezbollah. The attack has been widely attributed to Israel’s intelligence organization Mossad, leading to the deaths of dozens of people and wounding thousands. During an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, Panetta told anchor Lee Cowan that the action’s by Israel are “a form of terrorism.” Panetta then added that the actions by Israel could lead to more deadly operations going forward in...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta, who has endorsed 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, stated that Harris was in the room when decisions about the Afghanistan withdrawal were made, but she was there “to listen” and doesn’t “bear the same responsibility that the President bears with regards to the final decision.” Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “So, Harris is going to be giving this interview on the eve of what is the third anniversary of America’s total withdrawal from Afghanistan. You spoke last week at the DNC, forcefully...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta responded to President Joe Biden scolding Israel for seemingly assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by saying that “one of the things that we’ve encouraged Israel to do is to target the leaders of Hamas that were involved in the attack on Israel.” And that this is what Israel should do. Panetta acknowledged that the killing could have an impact on ceasefire talks, but argued, “that is what war is all about. And ultimately, it’s the price you have to pay in order...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta called for the Biden administration “to get tough” with Russian espionage in the U.S. to help give the U.S. leverage that it lacks to free Americans detained by Russia and “We’ve got to basically shut him down by playing hardball with Putin with regards to the spies he’s got in this country.” Panetta said, “We have got to play a tough game with Putin to make clear that he’s not going to get away with this kind of game.”

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta responded to questions on whether he regrets signing a letter that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation knowing what he knows now by stating, “I think that disinformation is involved here. I think Russian disinformation is part of what we’re seeing everywhere.” And “I don’t have any regrets about not trusting the Russians.” Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 4:10] “I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about that letter you signed on to from former intelligence...

The partisan CIA officer behind a so-called “whistleblower” complaint wrote that a White House official described President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine as “crazy” and “frightening,” according to a report. Fox News reports the CIA officer penned a two-page memo on July 26th — one the day after the Trump-Zelensky call — in which he wrote his conversation with the White House official, “only lasted a few minutes, and as a result, I only received highlights.” Reporters Catherine Herridge and Bradford Betz write: According to the memo, the White House official “described the (July 25th) call as ‘crazy,’ ‘frightening,’ and...

This is a way underreported story. It was Antony Blinken, the limp wristed Secretary of State who bends over for all US adversaries while calling it a success, who reached out to ex-CIA Director Mike Morrell to cobble together a group of "intelligence experts" who would sign a false statement calling the Hunter Biden laptop "Russian disinformation" so Biden could use it a hammer to pound Donald Trump in their debate. Morrell was eager to help. After all, he was motivated to do so. Financially motivated. In 2017 the thinktank Atlantic Council signed an agreement with Burisma despite knowing it...

Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe criticized former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for saying he does not regret signing the letter suggesting the Hunter Biden's laptop story was "Russian disinformation." Ratcliffe said, "everyone knows" Panetta and other former intelligence officials "made a mistake" with their declaration before the 2020 election. Ratcliffe said on "Fox & Friends," that the officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were running a "political interference operation." "JOHN RATCLIFFE: I appreciate Secretary Panetta's prior service to the country, but everyone knows that he did make a mistake. Everyone knows that he was wrong. Everyone knows that...

After several news organizations authenticated the laptop's contents, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked the ex-Obama official Monday night whether he wished he never signed the letter "given what we know now." "No, not at all," Panetta told Collins. "I signed that letter for one reason, which was to make the American people aware that the Russians deliberately were engaged in a disinformation campaign in the United States and trying to impact on our election and trying to impact on our ability to have free and fair elections. That's why I signed that letter." The ex-CIA director continued, "And very frankly,...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is being investigated by the Committee on the Judiciary and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for his prominent role in persuading 51 former intelligence officials to falsely discredit the “New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation” during the 2020 Presidential election. The intelligence assessment led to a nearly blanket censorship of investigative stories exposing the alleged corruption of President Joe Biden and his family and kept the truth hidden from the American people before the election, according to a letter released Thursday night by the committees and obtained by...

A retired CIA leader coordinated a letter from former intelligence chiefs claiming that Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation because he wanted to help Joe Biden's presidential campaign. Mike Morell told the House Judiciary Committee that he was asked by Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State - who at the time was a senior member of the Biden campaign - to help discredit the laptop reporting. Morell was a former acting CIA director, serving for two months in 2011 and four months from 2012 to 2013. He retired from the CIA in September 2013. The House Judiciary Committee, led by...

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign prompted former acting CIA director Mike Morell to “help Biden” by organizing 50 colleagues to sign a letter in October 2020 falsely claiming that damning emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop published by The Post were Russian disinformation. In private sworn testimony, Morell told the House Judiciary Committee that Antony Blinken, now Secretary of State, was the senior campaign official who reached out to him “on or before” Oct. 17, 2020, three days after The Post published an email from the laptop suggesting Hunter had introduced his Ukrainian business partner to his father, then vice-president Biden. Morell,...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated that the Chinese spy balloon over the U.S. is “gathering intelligence” and that the U.S. either needs to intercept it or shoot it down if that’s the last alternative and that simply letting the balloon go out to sea is not an option. Panetta said, “I think the United States has to take control of this balloon. There are two things that are of great concern here: One is that it’s been determined to be a surveillance balloon, which means that it’s gathering intelligence. That’s the purpose...

The October 2020 letter alleging that damaging content on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop was Russian disinformation and was signed by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan and others is now admitted to be a lie. Former US intel official Douglas Wise now says "we all knew the Hunter laptop had to be real, but signed the letter claiming it wasn't because we all knew that, true or false, it was essential to prevent Trump from being reelected. As post-election polls showed, 17% of those who voted for Biden...

WASHINGTON – A former top intelligence official who signed on to a letter attacking The Post’s bombshell 2020 reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation has now admitted he knew a “significant portion” of the recovered files “had to be real” – but doesn’t regret dismissing the exposé. ... The Oct. 19 letter — whose signatories included former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan — went out of its way to cast doubt on the legitimacy of The Post’s scoop, devoting five paragraphs to explaining “factors that make...

LAS VEGAS — President Clinton conceded Sunday that the administration mistakenly obtained the FBI files of more than 300 people, including many top Republicans, in late 1993 as the result of a "completely honest bureaucratic snafu" involving security clearances. His chief of staff, Leon Panetta, told reporters that "obviously a mistake was made" and apologized to the people whose FBI files wound up at the White House. Clinton did not apologize directly, but said "I completely support" what Panetta said about the affair.

On Monday, former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reacted to President Joe Biden calling for a regime change in Russia during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden stated in a recent speech in Warsaw, Poland.

Former Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has taken off the gloves,” so America and NATO must do the same in response. Anchor Chuck Todd said, “Let me start with what the mission is now. The mission 48 hours ago was to deter Putin. We have not deterred him from doing this. Now I assume the mission is to get him to retreat in some form or another. How do we do it?”