From Congress to Spy Chief: Senate Confirms Ratcliffe Posting
The Senate confirmed Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe to serve as director of national intelligence Thursday, ending a nine-month nomination saga for the staunch Trump ally.
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national intelligence
Senate Panel Narrowly Advances Trump Pick for Intelligence Director
Behind closed doors in a secure facility on Capitol Hill, Republicans pushed President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Congressman John Ratcliffe, closer to the finish line Tuesday.
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Rubio Tapped to Chair Senate Intel Committee During Burr Probe
With Senator Richard Burr stepping down from the position amid a probe into his stock transactions, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio will take over as acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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Tapped by Trump for Top Spy Post, Ratcliffe Vows to Put Politics Aside
In a contentious and socially distanced hearing, the Senate worked Tuesday to install as the nation’s senior-most spy chief Representative John Ratcliffe, mere months after the Texas Republican staunchly opposed the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
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Bipartisan Senate Panel Backs Conclusion on Russian Meddling
Adopting a conclusion reached long ago by the U.S. intelligence community, the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee signed off Tuesday on findings that the plot to interfere in the 2016 presidential election had come out of Russia.
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US Medical Intelligence Warned of New Virus in February
In late February when President Trump was urging Americans not to panic over the novel coronavirus, alarms were sounding at a little-known intelligence unit on a U.S. Army base an hour’s drive north of Washington, D.C.
Read moreTrump Fires Watchdog Who Alerted Congress to Whistleblower Complaint
President Trump fired Michael Atkinson Friday night, the inspector general for the intelligence community who oversaw the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment.
Read moreFOIA Requests
A federal court in Washington upheld a majority of Freedom of Information Act request withholdings challenged by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barton Gellman who seeks every record in federal intelligence agencies’ files that mentions his name. Gellman, who is writing a book about intelligence gathering, reported on documents leaked to him from Edward Snowden.
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Trump Renominates Controversial Pick for Intelligence Chief
President Donald Trump again nominated Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe to serve as director of national intelligence Friday, a move that comes just months after the Republican lawmaker’s first nomination fell apart amid closer scrutiny of his record as a prosecutor.
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Reliability of Pricey New Voting Machines Questioned
In the rush to replace insecure, unreliable electronic voting machines after Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, state and local officials have scrambled to acquire more trustworthy equipment for November, when U.S. intelligence agencies fear even worse problems.
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US Counter-Terror Analyst Pleads Guilty to Leaking Secret Info
A counter-terrorism analyst at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency pleaded guilty on Thursday to leaking secret information to journalists, including details about foreign countries’ weapons systems.
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Trump Names New Acting Director of National Intelligence
The ascendancy of his administration’s most staunch defenders continues as President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the latest shakeup to leadership atop the U.S. intelligence community.
Read moreRecords Request
A federal court in Washington ruled that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence properly withheld certain documents relating to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that had been requested under the Freedom of Information Act by a Buzzfeed reporter and government transparency nonprofit director.
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Germany’s Top Court Mulls Limits on Spy Agency’s Powers
Germany’s highest court is considering imposing stricter limits on the activities of the country’s foreign intelligence agency.
Read moreCzechs Find Russian & Chinese Cyberspying
Russian and Chinese spies repeatedly targeted the Czech state last year, the country’s intelligence service said in its 2018 report published Tuesday, detailing cyberattacks and disinformation.
Read moreSecond Trump Whistleblower Spoke to Inspector General
A second whistleblower has spoken to the intelligence community’s internal watchdog and has information that backs the original whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, according to the lawyer for the two.
Read moreTrump Seizes on Schiff as Impeachment Probe Gathers Steam
Taking aim at the congressman who one day earlier forcefully questioned the White House’s handling of the whistleblower complaint, President Donald Trump fired off a volley of tweets Friday that call for the resignation of Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
Read moreIntelligence Chief Defends Shrouding Whistleblower Complaint
Under fire about his role in keeping secret a whistleblower complaint that has fueled an impeachment probe against President Donald Trump, the acting director of U.S. intelligence told House lawmakers Wednesday that executive privilege concerns pushed him to seek the administration’s guidance.
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Acting Intel Boss to Speak; Dems Call Complaint ‘Disturbing’
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is to speak publicly for the first time about a secret whistleblower complaint involving President Donald Trump as House Democrats who have read the document say it is “deeply disturbing.”
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Still-Secret Trump Complaint Appeal Spurs Subpoena Threat
Three Congressional committees threatened Monday to subpoena the State Department over reports that President Donald Trump pressured Ukraine into investigating the son of his potential 2020 election opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
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