How To Make Yourself Invincible To Media Info Ops

The most effective tactic for not getting duped by the media's information operations is to understand that they happen.

John Brennan tries slithering around true nature of Hunter Biden laptop letter after losing security clearance



John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, appeared bent out of shape in an interview following President Donald Trump's removal of his security clearance.

The 69-year-old deep-stater suggested that his continued access was a benefit to the government and that its withdrawal was not the result of his having misled the nation in 2020 but instead an act of "revenge" in response to his criticism of the president.

The letter

Brennan was among the 51 signatories of an Oct. 19, 2020, letter aimed at discrediting the New York Post's Oct. 14 report about the discovery and damning contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, which the FBI "verified" one year earlier.

The letter Brennan gladly put his name to claimed that the story was likely a thing of Slavic fantasy — that the story had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation" and that the damning emails on the laptop discussed by the Post were manufactured in an attempt to influence how Americans would vote in the election.

The liberal media dutifully picked up on the intel officials' framing. Politico, for instance, titled its write-up, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."

'The faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled.'

Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quick to put the combined efforts of anti-Trump intelligence officials and the liberal media to work for his campaign, referring to the letter in his first debate with Trump on Oct. 22, 2020.

Although former Secretary of State Antony Blinken has denied doing so, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government indicated in 2023 that Blinken, at the time an adviser to the Biden campaign, got the ball rolling on the letter.

Just as Blinken was apparently rewarded for his commitment to Biden's success in the 2020 election, Brennan was later appointed to the Biden Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Intelligence Experts Group.

The executive order

In his Monday executive order titled, "Holding former government officials accountable for election interference and improper disclosure of sensitive governmental information," Trump noted that "federal policymakers must be able to rely on analysis conducted by the Intelligence Community and be confident that it is accurate, crafted with professionalism, and free from politically motivated engineering to affect political outcomes in the United States."

"The signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions," continued the president. "This fabrication of the imprimatur of the Intelligence Community to suppress information essential to the American people during a Presidential election is an egregious breach of trust reminiscent of a third world country. And now the faith of Americans in all other patriotic intelligence professionals who are sworn to protect the Nation has been imperiled."

Brennan showed up fourth from the top on Trump's list of former spooks whose clearances would be revoked.

In addition to tearing up the former intel officials' security clearances, Trump tasked his incoming director of national intelligence — possibly Tulsi Gabbard, whose candidacy and capabilities Brennan has criticized — with reporting to him on whether there should be any disciplinary action "that should be taken against anyone who engaged in inappropriate conduct related to the letter signed by the 51 former intelligence officials."

The spy's spin

Brennan told MSNBC Tuesday that he has kept his clearance for as long as he has "for the benefit of the government — so that if the CIA or another government agency wanted to call me in to discuss a classified matter, they could do that."

Apparently failing to grasp that the people's government no longer wants his misleading input, Brennan called Trump's executive order "bizarre among the many bizarre executive orders that he had signed out."

Brennan claimed that Trump "misrepresented the facts in that executive order 'cause it said we had suggested that the Hunter Biden laptop story was disinformation. No, we said it bore the hallmarks of Russian information operations, including the dumping of accurate information."

Brennan neglected to mention that his letter concluded with a quote suggesting that the material in the Post story was "part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia" or that there was apparently no effort on his part or the part of other signatories to correct Politico's framing of their letter, which, again, stated, "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo."

Unwilling to admit the letter's misleading and tactical nature, Brennan suggested that Trump's push for accountability is "just his effort to try to get back at those individuals who have criticized him openly and publicly in the past."

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Former Intel Officials Who Signed Infamous Hunter Biden Laptop Letter Remain Defiant

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released the transcripts of interviews with several of the 51 officials who signed the letter.

Hunter Biden's laptop got him convicted. Intel officials who called it Russian disinfo remain unapologetic.



Hunter Biden was convicted today in part owing to the verified contents of his laptop, which the New York Post reported on before the 2020 election.

A cabal of former U.S. intelligence officials released an open letter on Oct. 19, 2020, regarding the Post's Oct. 14 report about the discovery and damning contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, which the FBI had "verified" one year earlier.

Among the 51 signatories of the letter were:

  • James Clapper, former director of national intelligence under Democratic President Barack Obama;
  • Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA under Obama;
  • Leon Panetta, former secretary of defense under Obama and CIA director;
  • John Brennan, former CIA director under Obama;
  • Glenn S. Gerstell, former general counsel for the National Security Agency;
  • Richard H. Ledgett Jr., former deputy director of the NSA;
  • Jeremy Bash, the former chief of staff both of the CIA and the Department of Defense; and
  • Michael Morell, former acting director of the CIA.

Their letter asserted that the Hunter Biden laptop story was likely a thing of Slavic fantasy — that the story had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."

While Clapper, Brennan, and the other 49 so-called experts were willing to admit in the letter to both not knowing whether the Hunter Biden emails provided to the New York Post were "genuine" and having no "evidence of Russian involvement," they nevertheless suggested a "laptop op" designed "to discredit Biden ... would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracy."

The letter was framed thusly by Politico and left uncorrected by the signatories: "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."

According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, then-senior Biden campaign adviser and now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken got the ball rolling on this misleading and election-influencing letter. The letter was allegedly drafted with the aim of setting the narrative before the Oct. 22, 2020, presidential debate, wherein Biden ultimately used it to great effect. Blinken later denied conceiving of or soliciting signatures for the letter.

Even though the story was undermined by the letter and censored online, the laptop was real all along, and its contents — like those of Ashley Biden's troubling diary — were as authentic as they were incriminating. FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen made this especially clear in court last week.

'51 intelligence agents, that phony story. Remember?'

Former President Donald Trump recently suggested that the 51 officials who leveraged their perceived credibility and former status to shield Biden from the truth may soon face a comeuppance.

Trump was recently discussing false narratives spread by the Biden camp and broached the subject of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

"51 intelligence agents, that phony story. Remember? 'The laptop from Russia,' they said. And they should be prosecuted for what they did, okay?" said Trump. "Let's see what happens.

Ahead of Hunter Biden's criminal conviction, Fox News Digital reached out to the signatories of the October 2020 letter, asking whether they regretting misleading the nation. While some of the election-swaying former officials flatly say no, as in the case of Clapper, others doubled down.

Mark S. Zaid, an attorney representing Ronald Marks, Marc Polymeropoulos, Douglas Wise, Paul Kolbe, John Sipher, Emile Nakhleh, and Gerald O’Shea, suggested the letter was important and signing it was "patriotic."

Zaid even suggested that criticism of the letter amounted to disinformation but did not go so far as to pin blame on Russia.

"There continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter signed by fifty-one former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden's laptop," Zaid told Fox.

"A careful and objective reading of the document reflects that even today its content is accurate. It served as nothing more than a warning letter of what we have known for decades: certain foreign governments — including Russia — continue to try and actively interfere in our domestic affairs and our guard must remain vigilant. Every patriotic American should have signed that letter," added Zaid.

Signatory Greg Treverton, former chair of the National Intelligence Council, said, "What we said was true, we were inferring from our experience, and it did look like a Russian operation. We didn't, and couldn't of course say it was a Russian operation. Enough said."

Michael Hayden, who intimated late last year that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Al.) should be removed from the human race, simply hung up the phone and dodged subsequent requests for comment.

The Post noted that Panetta defended the letter in July 2023, saying he had no regrets about signing it.

"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," Panetta told CNN.

Concerning the letter's additional spin in Politico, Zaid told the Post, "With respect to the Politico story, had I been representing my clients at the time I would have certainly asked for them to modify their headline as it is too categorically and broadly asserted a conclusion that the letter did not."

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