Transcripts For CSPAN2 Former CIA Director I Saw Intelligenc

CSPAN2 Former CIA Director I Saw Intelligence Information To Warrant... May 24, 2017

Good morning. It is my habit and tradition seven with a quick prayer. We come before you humble in desperate need of your wisdom and guidance. We pray for the families and those affected by the bombing in manchester last night. A clear reminder of how dangerous this world is. We pray for healing for those involved in that horrific experience. We ask that you be with us this morning. We ask for your guidance and wisdom. In your name, amen. Good morning. I would like to welcome our witness, john brennan. Thank you for being for a green ticket be with us for agreeing to be with us this morning. I would like to offer up our prayers for the deceased and injured. Of thegedy reminds us crucial role our Intelligence Committees. To this morning session is an opening hearing. Andill allow the members witnesses to discuss classified investigation. To our guests in the audience, welcome. Proper this time i would like our witness to stand and raise your right hand, please. I do solemnly swear to give this committee the truth from of the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you again. As you know, we have a responsibility to the public. It is my hope that your testimony today will assist both our and the American Publics understanding of fact involving the russian interference in our last election campaign. Youre the knowledge of activities foster that were key players regarding russian activities in the elections. The judgments rendered by the Intelligence Committee regarding community regarding those matters. The actions that were taken by the Obama Administration to counter it. This committee was focused on aggression. It is disheartening to wonder why more action was not taken sooner. I hope you will have insight into this important matter. Every day the American Public is bombarded with news about the russian interference. Many reports are false and misleading. Founduth can only be through a full and fair investigation into the facts. We have a duty to the American Public to follow the facts wherever they lead. Your testimony today will greatly help us meet the solemn obligation. Thank you, chairman. Good morning director brennan. Thank you for coming before our committee and your lifetime of service for the country. We will today to the terrible news from manchester that a suicide bomber killed scores of people coming putting children at a concert. It is difficult to describe the depravity of that act. We know that your colleagues in the Intelligence Committee are doing everything they can to share information with the british and are working day and night to prevent such attacks from plaguing our own country. Two months ago, our Committee Held its first open hearing with then fbi director james comey. Because mr. Comey was responsible for investigating u. S. Persons were involved in the russian hacking in our election, many questions went to the issue of collusion. It was after that hearing that ector call me revealed that this investigation was ongoing. Director comey and rogers also repudiated the president s contention that he was the subject of it wiretapping. Wiretapping. Those plans involve an unprecedented attack on our democratic institutions. More than two that, a wish to undermine the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and advanced the prospects that donald trump would become president of united dates. The audacity of the russian intervention to most americans i surprised. Today we will look to director theiro figure out intent on organizing the data by publishing it during critical times during the campaign. What were they hoping to accomplish and what why were they running the risk of getting caught . Did the russians believe that the american response would be so muted that they could get away with it and pay little price . Came from thesion top levels of the kremlin, was Vladimir Putin encouraged by donald trump pressure yes wethe cias mission want to explore what the agency may have learned about the u. S. Involvement and share in open session. What mechanism was established, if any, for the sharing of information between elements of the Intelligence Committee and the fbi. Our agencies have concluded that notrussian attack on is one off. The russians already employs many of the same tactics in europe. We will want to know the directors views and what we can do to stop them. Over the course of the last two weeks, several matters have been have a direct bearing on our investigation and the relationship between the president and the Intelligence Community. The president that shared classified information that was provided by one of our intelligence partners. President ged that the most recently, it is alleged that he weighed in with rogers and codes and urged them to the accusation of collusion. Significantly, it was admitted by the president himself that the russia probe was the primary motivation between his firing of mr. Comey. As i imagine, you must have maintained many relationships with the with the incredible workforce. We will be interested to learn whether members of the Intelligence Committee have shared information with you that corroborates any of these you ations and how uss ability at the fbi to carry out this investigation free of interference. Last, you want to say word about the appointment of mr. Mueller. Many of us have no director mueller for many years and have the most respect for him. Appointment, as important as it was to ensure Public Confidence in the kodak conduct of the doj. Our investigation and mr. Have two heart objects. His will determine if any u. S. Laws were broken and who should be brought to justice if there were. Hours will be to determine the full scope of russian interference. To make many of our findings public. I think the chairman and i yield back. Thanks the chairman and i yield back. Way,presentative khanna members of the committee, and conway,te the comedy members of the committee, i appreciate the ability to be her today. As a cia officer from 1980 to 2005. I am currently serving as a Senior Advisor at kissinger associates. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the british people and the families of those injured in yesterdays heinous attack against innocents in manchester. That lawident enforcement officers in the united kingdom, united dates, and other countries are working to find those responsible and prevent further attacks. I wish them godspeed. A fish artie heard from already heard from officials. Of y from director rather than repeating details contained in their testimonies, i will use this opportunity to make three main points before i take questions. Proud of the work done by the men and women of the cia, who along with their colleagues, tracked and exposed russia active measures against our president ial election. When itecame became clear to me that they had wideranging efforts to interfere, we pulled together experts from the cia, nsa, and fbi to focus on the issue. The purpose was to ensure the experts and key agencies had access to information and intelligence relative to russia russian activity. The experts provided regular updates to the summer and fall, which we used to inform senior u. S. Officials, including president obama. The work was leveraged for the under thece Community Director of national intelligence. It should be clear to everyone blatantly interfered in our 2016 president ial election process. They undertook these activities despite our strong protest and explicit warning that the not do so they not do so. The head of russias federal security bureau, russias internal security service, the bulk of the schedule fell on syria. With the white house come i took the opportunity to raise two additional issues with them. The continuedt harassment of u. S. Diplomats in moscow was your responsible, reckless, intolerable, and needed to stop. I next raised the reports of russian attempts to interfere in our upcoming president ial election. I told him if russia had such a campaign underway, it was certain to backfire. I said that all americans, regardless of political affiliation, cherish their ability to elect their own leaders without outside interference or disruption. American voters would be outraged by any russian attempt to interfere in the election. I warned that if russia pursued this course, it would destroy of near prospects relationships and undermine matters of mutual interest. As i expected, he denied that russia was doing anything to influence our president ial election, claiming that moscow is a traditional target for such activities. He said that russia was prepared to work with whatever candidate won the election. He again denied the charge but said he would inform president putin. Socalled process. In consultation with the white house come i personally briefed the full details of our understanding of russia attempts to interfere to congressional leadership. I provided the same briefing to each of the members. In the highly sensitive nature of the intelligence case involving an ongoing russian effort to interfere in our president ial election, the full details of what we knew at the time were shared only with those members of congress. Each of whom was accompanied by one senior staff member. The subjects of those briefings with consistent of the main judgments of the janeway classified assessments. January classified assessments. Let me conclude by saying that it was a very special privilege to serve as a cia officer. It was the highest honor of my professional career and always will be to have served another four years as director of the cia. They recognize that this on the sacrifices they and their families make every day on behalf of theres their fellow citizens. We owe a debt of gratitude for what they have done and continue to do to protect this country. I will be pleased to take your questions. Service you for your and for agreeing to come this morning. I am joined on this test for spite to able prosecutors. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mr. Director, if you could just take a quick minute before i start with my line of questioning with regards to what happened in manchester to do whatever you can from your best Expert Opinion to try to reassure the American People that what we do in this country and what we are trying to do what helped thwart and stop any similar activity here in the future. If you could help try to put american minds at ease briefly, i would appreciate any words you might have. Mr. Brennan i would say that isis and al qaeda and terrorist affiliates try to continued these outrageous attacks in europe as well as the United States. I can say with great confidence that this country has the absolute best counterterrorism community. The experts from intelligence in human excellent security do an excellent job. I have seen a tremendous growth and capability, as all as enhanced National Architecture since 9 11 in terms of sharing counterterrorism information quickly. When it is collected overseas or wherever, it gets to those individuals who have to take action on it. I can assure the American People that i know today that my former colleagues are working harder than they ever have before to prevent attacks. We heard the Ranking Member speak in his opening as well as the rest. In your opening statement, the Russian Investigation, what the russians were trying to do with regards to our election. The russians interfering with that hasion, we know unfortunately become the new norm. Our charge on this committee is not so much necessarily to seek out and without criminal behavior, especially in light of the special Counsel Robert Mueller who will be looking into those types of thing. For us on the Intelligence Committee, weather here in the senate, to try to improve the Intelligence Communitys ability to do our jobs and make a report and recommendations to the new administration on how we better defend ourselves against what russia and others might be trying to do with regard to affecting our republic and democracy. In doing so, if we find any criminal behavior, i think that the minority would agree that type of information would be referred to the justice department, which is the proper jurisdiction. The main question at hand, in your experience with the russians trying to involve themselves in our election, did you ever find any evidence that the Ranking Member spoke of collusion while you are the director . Did you find direct evidence of collusion between the Trump Campaign and putin and moscow while you were there . I really dont do evidence. I do evidence. Intelligent intelligence professional, we provide all relevant information to the an, if there is a net investigation underway. I was convinced that the russians were trying to interfere in the election. They were very aggressive. It was a multifaceted effort. Sure that weake exposed as much of that ass will. As possible. Having beenence involved in many counterintelligence cases in the past, i know what the russians try to do. They try to get individuals, including u. S. Persons to act on their behalf wittingly or unwittingly. I was worried by a number of contacts that the russians had with u. S. Persons. Onthe time i left office january 20, i had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the russians had been successful in getting u. S. Persons involved in the campaign or not. To work on their behalf either in a breeding or unwitting fashion witting or any ing fashion. Unwitt of time, butout hopefully i can circle back. Can you describe their capabilities beyond propaganda and actually infiltrating whether you had intelligence and full trait the campaign with capabilities beyond propaganda and beyond reaching out or trying to influence the news or campaign . How long are we known about these capabilities . Mr. Brennan there is a lot of intelligence built up on russias and low mo. Able to useen politicians, Political Parties, elements within the media to try to make sure that their objectives are realized. Iswing what the russian mo and has been, i was concerned that they were practicing the same kind of activities here in the united date. States. We set up a group in late july that included the fbi and nsa. Towas well beyond my mandate follow up on any of those leads. I made sure that anything that was involving u. S. Persons, including individuals involved in the cap campaign was shared with the bureau. Campaign was shared with the bureau. The respect to number of allegations made recently that the president or his aides may helpsought to enlist the of director comey himself to drop the investigation. Sharedembers of any concerns that the president was attempting to enlist the help within the Intelligence Community to drop the Flynn Investigation . Mr. Brennan no sir. Areou aware of any to push back on a narrative . Mr. Brennan i am unaware of it. I want to ask you about the allegations concerning the president s meetings in the white house. You might have if the allegations are accurate about sharing information that we may have obtained from an intelligence partner. What impact do you think that might have on that partner but all other intelligence partners. Insightsuld share your on one other thing, that is the russians interaction to that meeting was to fall. D. Adimir putin two fol the russians had to understand that the publication of those photos would be harmful to the president or the would have invited American Press to the meeting. What do you think motivated pruden putin . Is this further efforts to weaken the president . How do you explain those events . Mr. Brennan a lot of questions. I shared classified information with the russians as director of the cia. Cia sure is classified information with russia on terrorism matters. That in itself was not unprecedented. I do not know what was shared or said in the oval office. If the reports and press are true that mr. Trump decided to spontaneously share some intelligence with the russians, i think he would have violated two protocols. Intelligence is not shared with visiting Foreign Ministers or ambassadors. It needs to be handled the right way to make sure that it is not exposed. Not do that, if the press charges are accurate. Before sharing intelligence, it needs to go back to the originating agency to make sure that the language in it will not reveal source of methods and compromise the future collecting capability. It appears from the press reports that he did not go through the proper channels, nor that the agency give proper clearance for it. Agency givehe proper clearance for it. These continue to be very damaging leaks. I find them appalling and they need to be tracked down. That is where the damage came from. The russians are watching very carefully what is going on in washington right now. They will try to exploit it for their own purposes to see if partisanfurther seed animosity. Even though the election is over, i think mr. Pruden and i thinkintelligence they are using this to their benefit. Had these concerns raised about their potential. Ffort did you take steps to set up a structure to analyze the russian , so that members of the cia, fbi and other agencies will look at these allegations in a cohesive fashion . Mr. Brennan yes. I also recognize this was an exceptionally sensitive issue. Trying to stop and uncover what the russian committees were in the midst of a hotly debated president ial campaign. That included information that may have involved u. S. Persons contact with russia. Pieces is to Come Department that effort compartment that effort. I made sure they were able to send over their experts so that they could share information among them. Sure that theye were not going to be any stovepipes. Sharing i still information. Thank you mr. Chairman. We were aack to where couple minutes ago. He testified that you had a conversation with your russian counterpart. You testi

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