DNI Ratcliffe Documented Career CIA Analysts Suppressed Chinese Election Interference Assessment – Violation of IRTPA Analytic Standard B (US)

On January 7, 2021, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe issued a formal memorandum documenting that career CIA analysts had suppressed assessments of Chinese interference in the 2020 election on political grounds, expressing reluctance to have their analysis used to support administration policies with which they personally disagreed. Ratcliffe’s memorandum states: “China analysts were hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference. These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tend to disagree with the Administration’s policies, saying in effect, ‘I don’t want our intelligence used to support those policies.'” This constitutes an established documented violation of IRTPA Section 1019, Analytic Standard B – the statutory requirement that intelligence assessments be produced independently of policy considerations. The substance of the suppressed assessments – what the CIA’s China analysts actually found regarding Chinese operations against election supply chains, infrastructure, and voting systems – has never been publicly disclosed.