Mayorkas taps 'spies who lied' for new 'intelligence experts group' – New York Post
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At least three former intelligence officials who publicly, and falsely, tried to discredit The Post’s bombshell Hunter Biden laptop story have landed a new gig — as national security consultants.
The so-called “spies who lied” — former CIA director John Brennan, former National Intelligence Director James Clapper, and former CIA senior operations officer Paul Kolbe — will serve on the Department of Homeland Security’s recently-announced “Homeland Intelligence Experts Group” panel.
In that capacity, they will offer their insights about national intelligence matters to the department’s Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Ken Wainstein and Counterterrorism Coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen.
Seventeen experts were named to the nascent group.
“The security of the American people depends on our capacity to collect, generate, and disseminate actionable intelligence to our federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, campus, and private sector partners,” Mayorkas said in a statement about the group.
“I express my deep gratitude to these distinguished individuals for dedicating their exceptional expertise, experience, and vision to our critical mission.”
The group will convene at least four times a year to discuss the wide range of ongoing national security concerns.
Pressing concerns on the agenda include: “terrorism, fentanyl, transborder issues, and emerging technology,” per a press release.
Back in October 2020, a band of 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter dubiously claiming that emails highlighted in The Post’s first exposé on Hunter had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Politico amplified the story with the headline, “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.”
Some signatories have subsequently sought to distance themself from that headline, contending that it was a distortion of what their letter claimed.
Around the time of the letter, social media companies such as Twitter, now known as X, throttled The Post’s story, before later backing off.
Revelations from the so-called “Twitter Files” later exposed the FBI’s alleged role in suppressing The Post’s scoop on the so-called “laptop from hell.”
Still, President Biden alluded to the letter during his second debate with then-President Donald Trump to fend off criticisms of alleged influence peddling.
In the time since, however, numerous news outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, and more have reported on the hard drive.
There has been no evidence that large swaths of it contained Russian-placed disinformation.
Still, most of the letter’s signatories have refused to apologize.
“No, I don’t regret it,” Clapper told CNN host Kaitlin Collins back in June. “I thought, at the time, it was appropriate to sound a warning about ‘Watch out for the dark hand of the Russians.’”
“And, in my case, this is on the heels of what I saw the Russians do, in 2016, to interfere and influence the outcome of our election.”
One of those officials, Douglas Wise, who previously worked as the Defense Intelligence Agency’s deputy director, later admitted he was “deeply suspicious” the laptop story was a pure fabrication.
“All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible,” Wise later told the “Australian.”
Last week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he has directed three congressional committees to commence an impeachment inquiry.
The inquiry pertains to alleged Biden family influence peddling — accusations the president and White House adamantly deny.
