DHS Blocked Circulation of a July Intelligence Bulletin Detailing Russian Disinformation Attacks on Biden

The announcement last Friday by the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) that the intelligence community will no longer offer in-person briefings on election security to lawmakers, and instead provide only written reports, further deepened fears over the politicization of intelligence (the ODNI did not help itself by saying earlier this week that in-person briefings on election security will be given to Senate committees chaired by Republicans, but not to House committees chaired by Democrats).

“We are hearing concerns being raised publicly that, in this administration, intelligence community reporting is being modified or blocked for political reasons — or to not anger the president,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and the former undersecretary for intelligence at DHS under President Barack Obama.

“By blocking information from being released that describes threats facing the nation,” Cohen continued, “it undermines the ability of the public and state and local authorities to work with the federal government to counteract the threat.”

The DHS spokesperson said that while the agency “generally does not comment on leaked documents, this particular draft product lacked the necessary context and evidence for broader dissemination outside of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.”

“After briefing the Acting Secretary and he asked questions,” the spokesperson continued, “[Office of Intelligence and Analysis] career leadership decided to delay the product for further review.”

The DHS draft bulletin offers several examples of how Russian disinformation and propaganda specialists conduct their attacks on Biden and raise doubts about his mental acuity. The draft bulletin points to a March 2020 story on a Russian proxy website, operated by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which “refuted media claims that the candidate’s gaffes are a result of a stutter, instead arguing these verbal miscues are symptoms of dementia.”

The DHS analysts point out that Russia’s current line of attack against Biden’s health echoes Russia’s efforts in 2016 to “[raise] serious doubts about [then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s] physical capability.”

As is the case with the current Russian disinformation attacks on Biden, in 2016 Russia’s attacks on Clinton dovetailed with the lines of attacks and wording used by the Trump campaign, and by the candidate himself.

ABC News notes that after months of warnings by the U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement of Russia’s increasing efforts to interfere in the November election to help Trump’s reelection bid, the DHS July intelligence bulletin, had it been circulated, would have provided one more piece of evidence – one of the most explicit and specific examples to date — of Russia’s intentions.

In August, the Office of Director of National Intelligence publicly reported “that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate” Biden, adding that “some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television.” But the ODNI has so far refused to offer the public more information on Russia’s interference plans for the November election.

What are the measures which are part of the “range of measures”? In behind-closed-doors testimony to the Gang of Eight group of senior lawmakers three weeks ago, the leaders of the U.S. intelligence community provided disturbing evidence that in addition to a broad, 2016-like social media campaign of interference, this time around Russia, intelligence operatives are planning to intervene digitally in the election process itself: send out misleading voting information to Democratic voters; wipe-out and corrupt voter rolls in Democratic districts; hack voting machines by hacking the machines’ manufacturing facilities and plant malware on the machines’ microchips (three manufacturers of such machines have already been hacked by Russian intelligence); hack vote-tallying and reporting apps (similar to what happened in the Iowa Democratic primaries – but in Iowa the disruption was due to incompetence and poor app design, not hacking).

The four Democratic members of the Gang of Eight – Senators Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner, and Representative Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff – urged the leaders of the intelligence community to make this information public, after redacting sensitive information about sources and methods, but the so far the ODNI has refused.

The issue of the candidates’ mental health appears to occupy foreign powers. The Russian interference campaign in the November election is an order of magnitude greater than the interference efforts of China and Iran, but it is interesting to note that in the DHS July draft bulletin, analysts said that Iranian state media has “amplified public discussion by medical professionals alleging that [President Trump] suffered from psychosis and narcissistic personality disorder.” In China, state media outlets have “questioned [President Trump’s] health and suggested that a debate about the mental health of a U.S. president is indicative of deeper problems with democracy.”