The U.S. media continues to make Russia their primary focus of the news cycle for the fourth consecutive week.  Apparently nothing else has been going on in/around the world of politics that is as important to the media as the “vast Russian conspiracy narrative”.
To wit, President Elect Donald Trump’s Senior Adviser and Spokesperson Kellyanne Conway enters the Sunday talk circuit today and is immediately asked about Boris and Natasha’s dastardly intercepts.
First, Meet the Pus.

Next stop, Clinton News Network:
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Anyone who has followed politics and the intersection with intelligence reports already knew the CIA (Brennan) and ODNI (Clapper) report was constructed nonsense.  Two more former CIA officials further admit that reality...
(Via Fox News) Friday night, during her last show on Fox News, Megyn Kelly asked former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra whether he accepted the conclusion by 17 intelligence agencies in a recently released declassified report that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and that this interference came at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hoekstra gave an answer Kelly did not anticipate.  He noted that the declassified report represents the views of only three intelligence agencies, not seventeen. Hoekstra also questioned why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) did not co-author or clear the report and why it lacked dissenting views.
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I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

No-one amid all current tentacles and story lines is at a higher risk from a President-Elect Donald Trump full public vetting of the intelligence community than former Obama CIA Director Leon Panetta.

When President Obama signed the original 2011 ‘finding memo’ authorizing covert CIA action in Libya it was Leon Panetta who carried it out.  Both the Libyan intervention and the initial Syrian intervention were joint White House regime change operations began during Hillary Clinton’s tenure.  Leon Panetta and Hillary Clinton were both carrying out Obama’s policy.
However, once things collapsed in Libya, and Chris Stephens was killed, Leon Panetta did not carry the same escape cards afforded to Clinton and the White House.  Panetta’s ability to escape unscathed was always further down the list of protected personages.
In the aftermath of Benghazi Panetta has carried that risk for years.  If the DC intelligence community stopped kicking the can down the road, or if the DC intelligence community were blocked from kicking that can (Trump), it has always been accepted that Leon Panetta would be the last man standing in a game of deadly political dodge ball.
Hence, there he sits today in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, visibly sweating bullets, hoping and praying the incoming administration will not sunlight his swamp.
(SEE VIDEO 01:45):
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The intensely political James Clapper and John Brennan intelligence claim, outlining the “Vast Russian Conspiracy” against Hillary Clinton, was taken to new levels of absurdity today with the release of a 25 page report (full pdf below) which downplays the previous Russian hacking claim and instead focuses “enhanced intervention techniques” by, …wait for it…. yup, Russian media.
Yes, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, and the Director of CIA, John Brennan, are now blaming “Russia Today (RT)” and “Sputnik News” for “influencing” the United States election.
No, you really can’t make this stuff up. They might as well be blaming Boris and Natasha for undermining the efforts of Rocky an Bullwinkle – damn Russians.

Anyone who previously doubted the intelligence community would politicize their findings can now put those doubts to rest. This report should be ridiculously embarrassing for the United States intelligence apparatus.
Thankfully President-elect Donald Trump did not take the bait; however, the media -who love to chase the Boris and Natasha angle- are apoplectic that Trump doesn’t specifically accept the threat from Rocky and Bullwinkle’s arch nemesis – muh Russians.
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For the past several days we have been discussing the Deep State shadow war within the various intelligence agencies.  The larger issues have been building for a long time.
CIA Director John Brennan and DNI head James Clapper, both took politicization of intelligence to new levels to accommodate the White House. It is not accidental that both of these names are the primary voices behind the “Russian Hacking Conspiracy“.

Those who have followed the intelligence storyline might find the comments last night (video below) by CNN contributor and former CIA official, Bob Baer, very interesting.  Ideologically and politically Baer is not a Trump supporter:

…”Donald Trump is right, it [CIA] needs to be completely reorganized and get it away from politics. And if it turns out that this whole Russian hacking thing is based on politics there should be a serious criminal investigation of some sort”…

… “And Trump is absolutely right in 2003/2002 with the national intelligence estimate the CIA let everybody down by putting a lot of trash in it, uh, under political pressure, and it’s time to correct that”…  ~Bob Baer, CNN

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As anticipated, the propaganda amid the MSM narrative surrounding the intelligence fracture is thick this week.  Perhaps it’s time we really call the baby ugly.
Before getting into that, it appears President-Elect Trump is scheduled to meet with the primary intelligence community propagandists, CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper:

It’s doubtful there could ever be a more swampy couple of political intel operatives present in Washington DC than these two professional deceivers.
Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) James Clapper’s prior congressional performances should have forever removed any credibility from his ability to influence. You might remember him being questioned about NSA surveillance of Americans and his response of “no”.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sat down with Fox News Sean Hannity for a very interesting, compelling and wide-ranging interview.  Hannity traveled to London to interview Assange.
If you did not watch it as broadcast here’s the video.  Strongly recommended:

Related reference content:

• FBI Release on Russian Hacking Claims HERE
• CIA Director John Brennan Interview HERE
• Understand the Intelligence Gang of Eight HERE
• John Brennan and James Clapper Refuse to Brief Congress HERE
• Intel Sources for NYT and WaPo Under Investigation HERE

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Politically engaged Americans (writ large) will, most likely, soon discover why it became so intensely important to outline the internal fight between ‘black hat‘ and ‘white hat‘ operatives within the intelligence community as it related to the 2016 U.S. election.  One example of the “shadow fight” within the administration is outlined here.
A PBS interview with CIA Director John Brennan highlights the scope of professional obfuscation needed when intelligence agents decide to politicize intelligence.   The Obama administration is in the process of attempting to re-write their own history.
As you watch this interview it is critical to remind yourself of the background within the names espoused by Brennan; specifically James Clapper and Jeh Johnson.   Additionally, against the recent sunlight we have provided, I would strongly highlight the discussion toward the end of the interview surrounding Syria.

♦ Prior to the administration of President Obama beginning, John Brennan, a career CIA official himself, was directly tied to the hacking of the U.S. State Department and the passport records of then candidate Senator Barack Obama, in March 2008.
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There are so many angles to this political storyline it’s almost impossible to encapsulate them.  Today a Politico article reveals the John McCain/Lindsey Graham push to create an international crisis with Russia has found push-back from an unlikely source, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

(Politico) John McCain and Lindsey Graham are backing off of their push for a select committee on cybersecurity after Russian interference in the election, bowing to the political reality that the Senate Republican Conference largely does not back their idea.

[…] “We’re just going to move with the individual committees and see how that works. If it doesn’t work, we’ll regroup,” [Lindsey] Graham said in an interview.

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Checks and Balances…

One of the least understood aspects of congressional oversight is the elite group of elected politicians who are charged with congressional oversight over all intelligence activity. This highly important oversight group is called the Intelligence “Gang of Eight”.
The Gang of Eight are briefed on every covert operation that our various intelligence agencies carry out. They are directly responsible for oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The Go8 are responsible for overseeing all executive office policy as it relates to intelligence gathering and corresponding activity.  In short these eight elected representatives are in charge of all oversight of all U.S. intelligence operations, open and covert.  The incoming 2017 Gang of Eight is:

A position within the Gang of Eight comes as a result of holding one of the following eight positions: 1. The Speaker of the House, 2. The Minority Leader of the House, 3. the Majority Leader of the Senate, 4. the Minority Leader of the Senate, 5. the Chairperson of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, 6. the minority leader from the same committee; 7. The Chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee and 8. the minority leader of the same committee.
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