An increasing number of leaks by Congress for ‘political purposes’ have motivated him to only give limited briefings for those ‘who are entitled to it.’
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe joined Maria Bartimoro on “Sunday Morning Futures” today to discuss new intelligence briefing procedures for Congress on security threats like China. “We’ve had a pandemic of information being leaked out of the intelligence community and I’m going to take the measures to make sure that stops,” Ratcliffe said. In his first interview since he was sworn into office, Ratcliffe explained that an increasing number of leaks by Congress for “political purposes,” such as promoting Russian collusion, have motivated him to change to only giving limited or written briefings for those “who are entitled to it.” “We’ll do what’s required by law. Those members who are entitled to the briefings and classified information will still get that information,” Ratcliffe assured. “What we won’t be doing is all-member briefings. We’ve tried that and the information hasn’t been protected.” According to Ratcliffe, many of the politicians leaking information want to “create a narrative that simply isn’t true, that somehow Russia is a greater national security threat than China.
