On October 14, 2020, theHunter Biden laptop controversy began when theNew York Post published a story about a laptop that belonged toHunter Biden that had been abandoned at a Delaware computer shop in 2019.[1] Five days later, a group of 51 former senior intelligence officials who had served in four different administrations, including theTrump administration, issued theHunter Biden laptop letter, an open letter stating that the laptop "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation".[2]
By May 2023, no evidence had publicly surfaced to support suspicions that the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation scheme.[3][4] FBI investigators handling Hunter Biden's laptop quickly concluded in 2019 "that the laptop was genuinely his and did not seem to have been tampered with or manipulated".[5]PolitiFact wrote in June 2021 that the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden, but did not demonstrate wrongdoing by Joe Biden.[6]
On October 16, 2020, three days prior to the letter's release,House Intelligence Committee chairmanAdam Schiff said on CNN, "Well we know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from theKremlin ... Clearly, the origins of this whole smear are from the Kremlin, and the president is only too happy to have Kremlin help and try to amplify it," though Schiff did not specifically refer to the laptop story.[7] During an interview withFox News on October 19, 2020, Trump'sDirector of National Intelligence (DNI)John Ratcliffe disputed Schiff's statement, saying "there is no intelligence that supports that", and accused Schiff of mischaracterizing the views of the intelligence community by describing the alleged emails as part of asmear campaign against Joe Biden.[8] Schiff's spokesman accused Ratcliffe of "purposefully misrepresenting" the congressman's words.[9] In March 2021, two months after Ratcliffe left as DNI, the intelligence community he had overseen released analysis finding that proxies of Russian intelligence promoted andlaundered misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about the Bidens "to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration".[10]
Further dispute over the interpretation of the letter arose when, on the day of its release,Politico published a story with the misleading headline, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say," though the body of the story did not support that wording. Instead, the story's lede accurately quoted the letter's words: "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation".[11] During the second 2020 presidential debate held on October 22, 2020, Joe Biden repeated the article's misleading claim in stating, "Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan".[12] He would later repeat the claim in a60 Minutes interview held on October 25, 2020.[13]
Republican congressmenJim Jordan andMike Turner said that Michael Morell, a signatory of the letter and former deputy director of the CIA under President Obama, testified before Congress in April 2023 about events leading up to the publication of the letter. Morell revealed that on or around October 17, 2020, Antony Blinken, then a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, called him to discuss the laptop story. Jordan and Turner highlighted that, according to Morell, the phone call with Blinken "set in motion the events that led to" the publication of the letter.[14][15] The congressmen said that retired CIA officer David Cariens had informed them via email that the agency's Prepublication Classification Review Board approved the letter and helped recruit signatories.[16][17]
Many Republicans and their allies have since cited thePolitico headline to insist the intelligence community had lied for the benefit of Joe Biden in the election weeks later andThe Wall Street Journal noted in 2022 how failure on the part of several media outlets to thoroughly investigate the Biden campaign's claims played a role in shaping public perception prior to the election.[18]
On February 13, 2023,The Washington Post fact-checker wrote that thePolitico headline "likely shaped perceptions of the letter that continue to this day".[19] FormerDirector of National IntelligenceJames Clapper asserted the letter's message had been distorted, saying "all we were doing was raising a yellow flag that this could be Russian disinformation.Politico deliberately distorted what we said. It was clear in paragraph five."[2] Another signer, longtime State Department and intelligence officialThomas Fingar remarked, "No one who has spent time in Washington should be surprised that journalists and politicians willfully or unintentionally misconstrue oral or written statements." Despite the criticism,Politico stood by the story.
FormerPolitico reportersMarc Caputo andTara Palmeri said on 23 January 2025 that, because of "dumb decisions of cowardly editors", they were told "Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop". Caputo said thePolitico story about the letter had a "terrible, ill-fated headline ... because the Hunter Biden laptop appeared to be true".[20]
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump issued an executive order (titled "Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information") revoking thesecurity clearances of all the officials who signed the letter.[21] The executive order states "The signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions". Lawyers including Mark Zaid and Dan Meyer said that the revocation can be challenged in court.[22][23]
| Name | Agency | Positions held | Current position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Clapper | DNI | Director of National Intelligence (2010–2017) Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence | CNN National Security Analyst |
| Michael Hayden | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2006–2009) | George Mason University Visiting Professor |
| Leon Panetta | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2009–2011) | |
| John Brennan | CIA | Director, Central Intelligence Agency (2013–2017) White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor | NBC News andMSNBC National Security Analyst |
| Thomas Fingar | DNI | Chair,National Intelligence Council (2005–2008) Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis | Stanford University, Payne Distinguished Lecturer National Committee on United States–China Relations, Board of Directors |
| Rick Ledgett | NSA | Deputy Director of the National Security Agency (2014–2017) | M&T Bank, Board of Directors |
| John McLaughlin | CIA | ActingDirector, Central Intelligence Agency (2004) Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence |
| Michael Morell | CIA | ActingDirector, Central Intelligence Agency (2012–2013) Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | Beacon Global Strategies Senior Counselor |
| Mike Vickers | DoD | Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (2011–2015) Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | BAE Systems Board of Directors |
| Doug Wise | DIA | Deputy Director Defense Intelligence Agency Senior CIA Operations Officer | |
| Nick Rasmussen | DNI | Director,National Counterterrorism Center (2014–2017) | |
| Russ Travers | DNI | Acting Director,National Counterterrorism Center (2018–2020) Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center | DeputyHomeland Security Advisor |
| Andy Liepman | DNI | Deputy Director,National Counterterrorism Center Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | RAND Corporation, Senior Policy Analyst[24] |
| John Moseman | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Congressional Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Larry Pfeiffer | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Director,White House Situation Room | Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security,George Mason University, Director |
| Jeremy Bash | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Staff, Department of Defense | Beacon Global Strategies, Managing Director |
| Rodney Snyder | CIA | Chief of Staff, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Intelligence Programs, National Security Council | |
| Glenn Gerstell | NSA | General Counsel, National Security Agency | Beacon Global Strategies[25] |
| David B. Buckley | CIA | Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency Democratic Staff Director, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence | United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Staff Director[26] |
| Nada Bakos | CIA | Analyst and Targeting Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | Foreign Policy Research Institute, Senior Fellow[27] |
| Patty Brandmaier | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Associate Director for Military Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency | Died in 2023[28] |
| James B. Bruce | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Senior Intelligence Officer, National Intelligence Council | RAND Corporation, Adjunct Researcher[29] |
| David Cariens | CIA | Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Janice Cariens | CIA | Operational Support Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Paul Kolbe | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Chief, Central Eurasia Division, Central Intelligence Agency | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Senior Fellow[30] |
| Peter Corsell | CIA | Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | I Squared Capital, Partner |
| Brett Davis | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director of the Special Activities Center for Expeditionary Operations, CIA | New North Ventures, Partner[31] Died in 2023[32] |
| Roger Zane George | CIA | National Intelligence Officer | Occidental College, Professor |
| Steven L. Hall | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency | CNN contributor |
| Kent Harrington | CIA | National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, Central Intelligence Agency Director of Public Affairs, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Don Hepburn | CIA | Senior National Security Executive | Boanerges Solutions, President |
| Timothy D. Kilbourn | CIA | Dean, Sherman Kent School of Intelligence Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer to President George W. Bush, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Ron Marks | CIA | Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Twice former staff of the Republican Majority Leader | George Mason University, Visiting Professor |
| Jonna Hiestand Mendez | CIA | Technical Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Emile Nakhleh | CIA | Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program, Central Intelligence Agency Senior Intelligence Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency | University of New Mexico, Director of National Security Programs[33] |
| Gerald A. O'Shea | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Served four tours as Chief of Station, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| David Priess | CIA | Analyst and Manager, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency | Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security,George Mason University, Senior Fellow[34] |
| Pam Purcilly | CIA | Deputy Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency Director of the Office of Russian and European Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Marc Polymeropoulos | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Acting Chief of Operations for Europe and Eurasia, Central Intelligence Agency | Atlantic Council, Nonresident Senior Fellow[35] |
| Chris Savos | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Officer | |
| Nick Shapiro | CIA | Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Director, Central Intelligence Agency | Tulane University[36] |
| John Sipher | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Chief of Russian Operations, Central Intelligence Agency | Atlantic Council, Nonresident Senior Fellow[37] |
| Stephen Slick | CIA | Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council Senior Operations Office, Central Intelligence Agency | University of Texas at Austin, Director of Intelligence Studies Project |
| Cynthia Strand | CIA | Deputy Assistant Director for Global Issues, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Greg Tarbell | CIA | Deputy Executive Director, Central Intelligence Agency Analyst of the Soviet Union and Russia, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| David Terry | CIA | Chairman of the National Intelligence Collection Board Chief of the PDB, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Greg Treverton | DNI | Chair, National Intelligence Council | University of Southern California, Professor |
| John Tullius | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | Naval Postgraduate School, National Intelligence Chair[38] |
| David A. Vanell | CIA | Senior Operations Officer, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Winston Wiley | CIA | Director of Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency Chief, Counterterrorism Center, Central Intelligence Agency | |
| Kristin Wood | CIA | Senior Intelligence Officer, Central Intelligence Agency PDB Briefer, Central Intelligence Agency | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Non-Resident Fellow[39] |
In addition, nine additional former IC officers who could not be named publicly also supported the arguments in this letter.[2]
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