Former intelligence officials endorse Harris, echoing Biden laptop letter saga

A coterie of former civilian national security officials and military leaders signed on to an open letter last week endorsing Kamala Harris for president, eliciting fresh criticism for the industry that has waded into politics in recent years against Donald Trump and reminiscent of the 11th-hour Hunter Biden laptop letter. 

In April of last year, it was discovered that the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials falsely discredited a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation. That led to a censorship and news blackout saga, in which the New York Post story was banned from social media, and mainstream media refused to cover the story. Eventually, The New York Times and Washington Post admitted that the laptop was indeed genuine, several months after Biden was elected. The signatories never mentioned, and both newspapers missed the fact that the FBI had authenticated the laptop months before its release. One of the letter organizers testified in 2023 that then-Biden campaign advisor Antony Blinken, the future secretary of State, first reached out, triggering the effort to draft it. 

Published by the National Security Leaders for America and addressed in an open format to the American people, the recent endorsement letter argued that Harris is the only candidate in the race that would be a “serious and capable” commander-in-chief and able to protect “American democracy.” 

“This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism. Vice President Harris defends America’s democratic ideals, while former President Donald Trump endangers them,” the more than 700 former officials, civilians employees, and military veterans wrote. 

Echoes of past politics

The echoes of prominent Democratic talking points in the open endorsement letter, for example about GOP nominee Donald Trump being a threat to the democratic process, have stirred criticism from other former national security officials who say their contribution to the election reeks of the same political interference from the community in the Hunter Biden laptop saga and serves to try and undercut Harris’ real electoral vulnerabilities. 

Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff to Trump National Security Council, called the letter “preposterous” in an article posted by American Greatness, a journal dedicated to reinvigorated the conservative movement. 

“[The] letter makes several ridiculously false accusations, such as accusing Trump of ‘heaping praise’ on Hezbollah and ‘excoriating’ Israel,” Fleitz wrote. “And, of course, the letter includes the usual Democratic talking points about Trump being an impulsive leader who threatens democracy.” 

Fleitz says, in reality, the letter is designed for one thing only, to counter one of Harris’ most "significant vulnerabilities,” the growing global instability presided over the Biden Administration. 

“The Harris campaign hopes a letter signed by large numbers of former national security officials will distract Americans from Trump’s successful national security record and prevent them from holding her accountable for the global instability caused by the Biden/Harris administration’s atrocious foreign policy,” he wrote. “This includes the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre against Israel, Iran’s surging nuclear program, significantly increased tensions and threats from China and other threats.” 

The open letter followed another endorsement, this one from more than 100 former Republican national security, elected, and other federal government officials echoing similar arguments. 

“We believe that the President of the United States must be a principled, serious, and steady leader who can advance and defend American security and values, strengthen our alliances, and protect our democracy. We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as President and Donald Trump does not,” the signatories wrote. “We therefore support her election to be President.”

Fleitz said the new letter was reminiscent of the effort by an overlapping group of former national security officials to discredit reporting about the Hunter Biden laptop. They labeled the leak of the laptop hard drive as bearing the hallmarks of Russian information operation and insinuated that reporting derived from its contents could not be trusted. 

“Many Americans were outraged over this letter because it represented former intelligence officers, several with high-paid government contracts, misusing their profession to meddle in a U.S. presidential election and mislead the American public,” Fleitz wrote. 

Endorsement by some of the same people involved in disinformation campaign

It appears that several of the officials who signed on to the laptop letter remained undeterred about their assessment being proven inaccurate. Of the hundreds of officials who signed the new letter endorsing Harris, nine former officials were also signatories of that prior effort to discredit the Biden laptop. 

They include former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper; former CIA Director Michael V. Hayden; former CIA Director Leon E. Panetta; former CIA Director John Brennan; former Acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin; former CIA chief of staff Laurence M. Pfeiffer; former Department of Defense chief of staff Jeremy Bash; CIA chief of station John Sipher; and former National Intelligence Council Chair Gregory Frye Treverton.

Several of the intelligence officials who signed the letter later testified to Congress as part of an investigation into the incident. Their interviews made clear the letter drafters were motivated by primarily politics while freely admitting they had no hard evidence for the claims, Just the News previously reported. 

The fact that his campaign had a hand in sparking the letter did not stop then-candidate Joe Biden from using it to deflect attacks from Trump. 

“Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan. They have said that this has all the characteristics – four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he’s saying is a bunch of garbage,” Biden said during the final debate abasing then-President Donald Trump who had criticized him over his apparent involvement in his son’s business dealings. 

The letter may have fulfilled its original purpose. Less than one month later, Biden won the presidential election. 

"Helping the Vice President"

One of the organizers, former CIA Director Michael Morell said one of their reasons for writing the letter all along was to help Biden.  “I think of it as two motivations. You know, one, let the American people know about what we saw as a deep suspicion of Russian involvement; and then, two, helping the Vice President,” Morell told Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. 

“You wanted to help the Vice President why?” Jordan asked.

“Because I wanted him to win the election,” Morell answered.

He subsequently admitted that he and his cosigners had no direct evidence that the laptop information was the product of a Russian information operation, as the letter described. 

In a comment to Fox News, National Security Leaders for America president Rear Admiral Michael Smith, USN (Ret.) gave a defense for of the nine signatories who signed both letters. 

"One well-reasoned but ultimately incorrect assessment does not undermine a lifetime's worth of public service. Their assertion that former President Trump is uncommitted to democracy and unprepared to be Commander-in-Chief is well-founded, as is their assessment of Vice President Harris as a strategic and knowledgeable leader."