At hearings in the House and Senate on Tuesday to determine the extent of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election, intelligence officials said the real damage to the integrity of the democracy and natural security has come from intelligence leaks to the press.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Armed Services Committee that leaks to the press could endanger lives.
“Leaks have played a very significant negative role relative to our national security,” Coats said. “The release of information not only undermines confidence in our allies about our ability to secure information that we share with them; it jeopardizes sources and methods that are invaluable to our ability to find out what’s going on and what those threats are.
“Lives are at stake in many instances, and leaks jeopardize those lives,” Coats said.
Former CIA Director John Brennan told the House Select Intelligence Committee that the “damage” to national security has come from the release of classified information to the press.
“What I was very concerned about, though, is the subsequent releases of what appears to be classified information purporting to point to the originator of the information, liaison partners,” Brennan said. “They continue to be very, very damaging leaks, and I find them appalling, and they need to be tracked down.”
“So that is where the damage came from, I think, that it was released in the press,” Brennan said.
Brennan also said he does not know if any collusion occurred between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Since President Donald Trump became president, there has been a series of leaks from inside the Trump administration to the press, mainly to the New York Times and the Washington Post.