Concern over U.S.-Russia relations ramp up in wake of election hacking reports
The CIA says Russia worked to influence the U.S. presidential election results in president-elect Donald Trump's favour, according to reports by the Washington Post.
President Barack Obama has ordered a full review of the matter, which is due on his desk before Trump is sworn in. Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman is also demanding that information related to Russia's interference be declassified.
"The CIA believes that the Russians are very sophisticated actors in the cyber realm, and if they wanted a trove on the Republicans they could have got it," Washington Post reporter Adam Entous tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.
... It's just very hard for obviously reporters and the public to figure out what's the truth.- Adam Entous, reporter with The Washington post
Entous added that the CIA believes Russia either has a trove of cyber intelligence on the Republican Party and president-elect Trump but is choosing not to release it, or it deliberately chose not to collect Republican intel — but could in the future.
He says while the FBI is not endorsing the CIA's assessment that doesn't mean the law enforcement agency disagrees with it.
"The FBI tends to make its assessment based on a legal standard, what it could prove in court," he explains, whereas the CIA operates on a lower intelligence-related standard.
The growing acrimony between the president-elect and U.S. intelligence agencies has not been seen since Richard Nixon's election, and is trickling down to lawmakers, Enous tells Tremonti.
He shares one story where a Republican lawmaker told him that "it's almost as if the Republicans are from Venus and the Democrats are from Mars, and they're coming out of these intel briefings pointing in different directions."
"This kind of 'partisanization' of the intelligence is really scary because it's just very hard for obviously reporters and the public to figure out what's the truth," says Entous.
It sends a message that intelligence in Trump's view should be tailored for his political interests.- Thomas Wright on Trump dismissing CIA findings
Trump has dismissed the CIA's findings prompting concern from some observers.
"He's just rejecting it out of hand because it's inconvenient," says Thomas Wright, director of the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution.
"It sends a message that intelligence in Trump's view should be tailored for his political interests, and I think that's something that will unsettle the intelligence community."
He tells Tremonti the worst-case scenario would be Trump's administration purging the intelligence agencies of analysts who present findings that contradict the White House's views.
"That I think would meet with stiff resistance because it would hold out the prospect of hollowing out America's intelligence capabilities and really damaging the CIA."
The recent appointment by the president-elect of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the secretary of state is also raising concern. Tillerson is believed to have close business ties to Russia and a relationship with President Vladimir Putin.
Wright worries that Tillerson's appointment suggests Trump wants to work more closely with Russia, both in the Middle East and by deepening commercial ties between the two countries — foregoing the U.S.'s traditional NATO commitments in Europe.
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Idella Sturino and Shannon Higgins.