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Four years ago we warned, in somewhat technical but easily understandable terms why the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC would have been impossible without the National Security Agency detecting it. We were helped by revelations from Edward Snowden, the expertise of two former technical directors at NSA (members of VIPS), and, not least, by applying the principles of science, which thank goodness are impervious to political pressure. See our MEMORANDUM of Dec. 12, 2016.
Proving a Negative
It proved difficult, of course, to prove a negative, particularly in the face of copious commentary and pseudo-analysis bereft of supporting data for example, the evidence-impoverished, misnomered "Intelligence Community Assessment" of Jan. 6, 2017.
We had to wait two and a half years, from Dec. 2017 to May 2020, for the House Intelligence Committee to publish the sworn testimony of Shawn Henry, head of the DNC-hired cyber security firm CrowdStrike. (For reasons best known to ex-FBI Director James Comey, the FBI deferred to CrowdStrike to perform the forensics on what Sen. John McCain was calling an "act of war" by Russia.)
In short, three years ago Mr. Henry admitted under oath that there was no technical evidence that Russia, or anyone else, hacked the DNC and exfiltrated those damaging emails.
What he said in his sworn testimony appears to be as close as one can get to proving the negative on this very key issue. If this is news to you, please check with your advisors. It may be not too surprising that the major media have suppressed that news since May. We would be disappointed to learn, though, that no one saw fit to tell you of Shawn Henry's testimony.
As far as we can tell, you have been careful to avoid joining lemming-like the "Russians-did-it-again" chorus. For fresh insight on the current media frenzy, you may wish to skim through an article published Friday morning on "Russian Hacking 2.0" and what seems to be afoot.
We are hoping that you will continue to avoid putting your foot in the mousetrap being laid for you to make it more difficult for your administration to deal in a sensible way with Russia. There are a whole lot of people in intelligence, the media, and the weapons industry who are determined to get you off on the wrong foot with President Putin for reasons that will be obvious to you.
We stand ready to support you with objective, tell-it-like-it-is analysis. Our record speaks for itself. Links to VIPS's earlier memoranda, starting with our same-day critique of Colin Powell's UN speech shortly before the war on Iraq, can be found at: https://consortiumnews.com/vips-memos/ .
FOR THE STEERING GROUP
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
William Binney, Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer and Division Director, State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (ret.)
Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator
Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist and a Technical Director (ret.)
Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst; Presidential briefer (ret.)
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