BREAKING: Senate Intelligence Committee issues initial findings on its assessment of the 2017 US intelligence community assessment that #Russia meddled in #Election2016 "supported by the evidence"
MORE: Senate Intel Committee "concurs with intelligence and open-source assessments that this influence campaign was approved by President #Putin" per just issued report
re #Russia meddling with #Election2016 with eventual goal to boost @realDonaldTrump
NEW: Senate Intel Committee report backs US intelligence finding that #Russia#Putin "aspired to help" President-elect Trump - says US agencies provided intel "to support this assessment...information obtained subsequent to publication of the ICA provides further support"
.@CIA and @FBI had assessed #Russia#Putin aspired to help @realDonaldTrump with "high confidence" & @NSAGov w/just "moderate confidence" but #SSCI report call disagreement "reasonable, transparent"
NEW: Senate Intelligene Committee concludes the 2017 US intelligence report conclusions on #Russia meddling w/#Election2016 "are sound, and notes that collection and analysis subsequent to the ICA's publication continue to reinforce its assessments" burr.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Senate Intel Committee Chair @SenatorBurr says committee "sees no reason to dispute the conclusions" of the US intelligence community report on #Russia and #Election2016
US intel findings "were accurate and on point" per ranking member @MarkWarner
More from Senate Intel ranking member @MarkWarner on #Russia / election meddling
NEW: 12 former senior intel official issue statement on "ill-considered & unprecedented remarks & actions by the White House" re former @CIA Dir. @JohnBrennan
"Insinuations and allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Brennan while in office are baseless," they say
"The president’s action regarding John Brennan and the threats of similar action against other former officials has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances – and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech" per statement
"We have never before seen the approval or removal of security clearances used as a political tool...this action is quite clearly a signal to other former and current officials" the former intel officials say
re @POTUS revoking @JohnBrennan's security clearance
DEVELOPING: #ISIS force strength now may be close to its peak in 2015.
As of June 2018, estimated 28,600 to 31,600 #Daesh fighters in #Iraq#Syria per IG report
US intelligence estimates had 33,000 #ISIS fighters at group's peak in 2015
"We all saw in 2016 what happened when the #Russia|ns & possibly others, but the Russians for certain tried to do both influence operations & actually get in & actually corrupt some of the election process" per SecDef Mattis before meeting w/#British Defense Sec @GavinWilliamson
"The adversaries may be more than just #Russia" @DeptofDefense Sec Mattis tells reporters re #election security "We are not focused solely on one country. We are focused on protecting the elections themselves"
Highlights fro #Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing on foreign interference via social media platforms:
"Election interference from abroad represents an intolerable assault on the democratic foundation this republic was built on" per @SenatorBurr
"It's also important that the American people know that these activities neither began nor ended with the 2016 elections" per @SenatorBurr "Foreign actors continue an aggressive and pervasive influence campaign against the #UnitedStatesofAmerica"
Efforts like those id'd by @facebook "creating events on our streets w/real #Americans unknowingly participating" adds @SenatorBurr
US needs low yield nuclear weapons, @US_Stratcom Cmdr @usairforce Gen John Hyten tells #SASC hearing - "That capability's a deterrence weapon to respond the threat that #Russia in particular is portraying"
"The #Russia|n doctrine will be to use a low-yield nuclear weapon on the battlefield in case of a conventional over-match with an adversary" per Gen Hyten, citing Vladimir Putin's own words
"Our defense is deterrent capability" per @US_Stratcom's Gen Hyten, when asked about threat from #Russia#China#hypersonic missiles "We don't have any defense that could deny the deployment of such a weapon against us"
#Europe "an increasingly complex & competitive security environment," SACEUR/@US_EUCOM Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti tells #SASC in opening statement
"Our adaptation to the environment has made significant progress...particularly under the European Deterrence Initiative" per Gen Scaparrotti, calling it "the largest reinforcement of Euro-Atlantic Defense in a generation"
Gen Scaparrotti also says @NATO alliance "is strong" and that "European allies & #Canada have turned a corner on defense spending with increases in each of the past 3 years" adding $46 billion to defense spending