Remember the 2017 “ICA” report from the U.S. intelligence community unanimously concluding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election?

The Senate Intelligence Committee went back and checked their work. On a bipartisan basis, we found the ICA's conclusions were well-supported. https://twitter.com/npfandos/status/1252610348412272641

The ICA correctly found the Russians interfered in our 2016 election to hurt Secretary Clinton and help the candidacy of Donald Trump. Our review of the highly classified ICA and underlying intelligence found that this and other conclusions were well-supported.

This is our fourth volume of five in the Intel Committee’s investigation of Russia’s attack on our democracy. You can read the full report on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s website, but here are our key findings:
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume4.pdf

The Committee finds that the ICA presents a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case that Russia engaged in an attempt to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

We find that the ICA reflects a proper representation of the intelligence collected and that this body of evidence supports the substance and body of the ICA.

Additionally, the ICA makes a clear argument that the manner and aggressiveness of Russia’s election interference was unprecedented.

The Committee also finds that the ICA did not include a set of policy recommendations for responding to Russia’s interference attempts.

This omission was deliberate, reflecting the well-established norm that the role of the intelligence community is to provide insight and warning to policymakers, not to make policy itself.

Finally, the Committee finds the ICA would have benefited from a more comprehensive look at the role of Russian propaganda generated by state-owned platforms in the multi-pronged interference campaign.

The Intelligence Community Assessment represented the kind of unbiased and professional work we expect and require from the intelligence community.

Based on these findings, there is certainly no reason to doubt that the Russians’ success in 2016 is leading them to try again in 2020, and we must not be caught unprepared.