Douglas Wise, a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director and former senior CIA operations officer, is back in the news this week. In an interview with The Australian, Wise admits that he and others always knew that the emails on the Hunter Biden laptop were likely genuine. It was a remarkable admission from one of more than 50 former intelligence officials who signed a letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 presidential election as likely “Russian disinformation.” Yet, Wise still maintains that, while true, he and the other officials were right to call it out as likely “disinformation.” Arguing that something is true, but still constitutes disinformation sounds a lot like . . . well . . . disinformation.
The infamous letter from the former intel officials (including such Democratic figures like John Brennan, James Clapper, Leon Panetta and Jeremy Bash) was used by the media to assure the public that there was nothing to see in the scandal. It was the perfect deflection in giving a cooperative media cover to bury the story of how the Biden family engaged in influence peddling worth millions with foreign figures, including some with foreign intelligence connections.
It worked beautifully. It was not until two years later that NPR, the New York Times, and other media outlets got around to telling the public the truth.
Now some of the signatories are trying to rehabilitate themselves. It is not hard. Figures like Bash have been rewarded for their loyalty. Others like Brennan and Clapper have become regulars on CNN to continue to give their takes on intelligence.
Wise, however, has tried to find some redeemable role in the letter. He told The Australian that “All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible.” So the emails and photos showing criminal acts with prostitutes and thousands of emails on influence peddling was likely true, but that truth only made them more dangerous forms of Russian disinformation.
It is that easy. True or not, the story was dangerous in detailing the corruption of the Biden family before the election. Done and done.
It also means that, under this dubious logic, you can spike any true story that is embarrassing to the President or the party as presumptive disinformation.
Indeed, Wise says that it was “no surprise” to learn that the emails that he helped spike were actually genuine.
He is not alone. Washington Post columnist Thomas Rid wrote that “We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation — even if they probably aren’t.
Let that sink in for a second. It does not matter if these are real emails and not Russian disinformation. They probably are real but should be treated as disinformation even though American intelligence has repeatedly rebutted that claim. It does not even matter that the computer was seized as evidence in a criminal fraud investigation or that a Biden confidant is now giving his allegations to the FBI under threat of criminal charges if he lies to investigators.
Yet, they still wanted the media to treat the story before the election as part of “Russian overt and covert activities that undermine US national security” as a story with “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Keep in mind that these “experts” literally had nothing beyond a potentially damaging story against the Bidens before an election. That was all that it took for these experts to rush out their letter.
Wise does not address that American intelligence reached the exact opposite conclusion and found no evidence — none — of Russian involvement or some foreign disinformation conspiracy.
Wise and the other signatories did not want to wait for any facts to support their claim. They rushed out the letter to an eagerly awaiting media to spike the story before the election. Now, they are seeking plausible deniability that they were political operatives sent on a political hit job. It is as implausible as calling a presumed true story “disinformation.”
Douglas Wise was a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director and a former senior CIA operations officer. In short, Wise was and always will be, a professional liar. You don’t get to be placed in a significant position in the CIA unless you are a proven liar and have exceptional skills in shamelessly lying.
Not for nothing did President John F. Kennedy want to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.” Unfortunately for JFK, the CIA splintered JFK’s brains into a thousand piece and scattered them to the winds before most of JFK’s plans could be carried out.
The CIA has never served the interests of America or Amercans. The CIA only serves the Ruling Class and is solely a functionary of the powerful Military-Industrial-[and Media] Complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned against. (The absolute worthlessness and danger of the CIA is evident just from the example of the 911 attacks. The CIA received warnings and solid information from many of the world’s intelligence agencies about the pending attacks, including Russia, Germany, Israel, France, United Kingdom, Egypt, and other nations. But instead of taking action to prevent the attacks, the CIA and the FBI worked together to facilitate the 911 attacks against America and to cover up the crimes.)
The CIA had a primary role in arranging for President Kennedy to be murdered in broad daylight because he wanted peace with the Soviets and he didn’t want to get involved in a prolonged war in Vietnam. The CIA also had a primary role in arranging to prevent President Trump’s pending second term because he wanted peace with Russia and he didn’t want to get involved in a prolonged proxy war in Ukraine.
In each case, the CIA participated in a coup d’état to remove a sitting President of the United States. JFK was well aware of the possibility and the threat from the CIA and the Military-Industrial-[and Media] Complex. President Kennedy wanted to get that message out to Americans and did all he could to help famed director John Frankenheimer get the film “Seven Days In May” completed during his term in office. Here’s a pertinent scene from this classic film, with screenplay by Rod Serling and featuring brilliant performances by legendary actors Frederic March and Burt Lancaster.
The letter gave cover to the complicit, colluding media … and to Presidential Candidate Joe Biden who waved the letter as proof the story was Russian disinformation in a Presidential Debate and on the campaign trail – without accountability. The infamous Sam Harris interview says it all, anything is acceptable to stop Trump…. and it still is.
What will be acceptable to stop the next candidate they demonize? What will be acceptable to install the next president, and call anyone who questions it “deniers,” or too late to matter?
With the WEF in Davos going strong, replaying Trump’s speech at Davos or at the United Nations clearly explains why.
@Turley,
There’s one small thing in all of this…
Even if the CIA were to know that some intel is fake, it still needs to be treated as if it were real.
There are scenarios where you know that the intel is fake, but for the sake of argument you treat it as real as you work thru that scenario and problem.
The recommended plan of action is going to be based on the accumulation of data from all the scenarios you worked through.
So here’s the problem.
CIA, Spooks , etc … all know that the emails are real, the laptop is real. But for some reason they believe that its in their best interest to provide some statement that introduces doubt.
You’re going to be hard pressed to use their letter against them because the letter they signed, while double speak that was released as a way to put their thumb on the scale, along w providing cover for Biden and the MSM… was actually factually correct. Add to this that those that signed were no longer w the agency therefore they didn’t know or couldn’t know what is real and what is not. It was speculation on their part.
Where you do have them is that their action does allow for repercussions. They could lose their security clearance.
They could be interviewed by the FBI where if they don’t respond truthfully, they could be charged w obstruction and lying to a Federal Agent, or if they did answer truthfully but it didn’t mesh with another’s testimony… same thing.
This of course assumes that there will be an investigation by the Feds in to all things Hunter and Joe and the laptop.
It will of course fall short of suggesting tampering w the elections.
-G
The letter was a political document. The specific and precise language in the letter show how they danced around with the wording. I suspect none of the signatories actually believed it was Russian disinfo. But it had ‘all the hallmarks’. It ‘looked’ like something that Russia would put out. The laptop documents had the ‘appearance’ of being Russia-like. And the media runs with it, never asking any questions. So my question is who is more corrupt the political agents or the media?
@CCMC
Both?
Look, the point of the letter was to give air cover to Twitter, FB, Google and the MSM and to justify the excuse of censorship.
At no time did they actually believe what they signed other than if the Russians were to interfere, this would be one way to do it.
The media runs with it …. and so did Joe Biden in a Presidential debate and on the campaign trail. No Accountability….
The media is more corrupt. They pretend to be something other than what they are. They hide behind the sacred shield of journalist.
We know and should suspect political agents. The media is the only industry protected and enshrined in our constitution’s first amendment. I reserve my disdain for them. They are an essential component of our free society. What they did the last 7 years is historic in its criminality – in their complicit, colluding, corrupt treason to our constitution and country.
They are still doing it, right in front of our eyes, with every broadcast that they ignore the #twitterFiles.
Thank G-d for Turley, Elon Musk and journalists like Bari Weiss and her The Free Press, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, David Zweig, Michael Shellenberg, Aaron Maté, Lara Logan, and a few others….
Indeed. That political disinformation document was carefully worded precisely so that when the day came from the signatories to finally admit that the Hunter Biden laptop and 100% of contents was real, they had “plausible deniability.”
The fraudster conmen could then happily and “honestly” claim that they never specifically wrote that the laptop and its contents wasn’t genuine. They merely wrote that the laptop and its contents had the “earmarks of Russian propaganda.” It’s a classic case of lying by omission and converse puffery.
(When a car salesman wants to give the false impression that a car is reliable and has no material flaws, he might say “Its a honey of a car!” Well, the converse puffery example here is saying “The laptop and its contents had the earmarks of Russian propaganda!”–when you want to falsely give the impression that the laptop and its contents were not trustworthy.)
Unfortunately, those fraudster conmen will never be dragged through the mud for their flagrant lies. The Media was also complicit in carrying out and promoting those lies. That’s why the correct term for the creators of this corruption is the Military-Industrial-Media Complex.
As a VERY well-known “pre-Snowden” Nat Sec Threat Analyst / WB (by all the wrong people!) this should be a SHOCK to anybody paying any attention. The FBI (FAIL BASIC IMPERATIVES) ATTACKS its own when they dare TELL THE TRUTH / EXPOSE USG/IC CRIMINAL CONSPIRACIES (Minneapolis FBI SA Terry Albury) and if you spoon-feed the USG IC / DOJ-FBI, SEC information / prima-facie evidence of EGREGIOUS MASSIVE CRIMINAL ABUSES the only thing you should expect is Institutional INDIFFERENCE at best and WEAPONIZED / MECHANIZED MALICIOUS “PROFESSIONAL” GANGSTALKING / at WORST! Know JUSTICE – KNOW PEACE! Mark J. Novitsky / Until Americans stop being systemically stuck on stupid and easily distracted out of Manufactured FEAR of the wrong things… “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it.” -Edward Bernays 1928 / LONG BEFORE BIG TECH & the WEAPONIZED “MILITRAY INDUSTRIAL SURVEILLANCE COMPLEX”
Dishonesty is honesty, in a lib mind. The meatheads have their college degree, and are not qualified to get a job, no worries, they can be a do nothing politician, or work for one. #TDS has them bamboozled. Carl Sagan said “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us … Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” Rep Byron Donalds of Florida, renews my faith, in government.