CIA Alumnus Discusses 2016 Presidential Election's Alleged Russian Meddling Report
In a shocking revelation, a recently declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in July 2025 has claimed that the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) regarding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was deliberately fabricated under the direction of President Obama and his national security team.
The report, which is multiple pages long and contains multiple sources and analysis, states there is "irrefutable evidence" that the ICA was based on falsehoods, manufactured findings from unreliable sources, suppressed evidence that contradicted its claims, and violated intelligence tradecraft standards. This false narrative, the report alleges, was promoted to undermine President Trump's legitimacy and led to years of investigations and political actions against him.
Susan Miller, a former CIA official who served as a CIA officer for just short of 40 years and directed the team that produced the 2016 report, has denied being discredited and maintains that she is simply telling what really happened. Miller and her team, who worked in a cell and did not provide interim updates on what they were finding to avoid any potential influence, concluded that the Russians tried to influence the election in Trump's favor, but it did not claim that any votes were changed.
The ODNI report relied on information from long-term assets and did not rely on the famous dossier. It was only added as an addendum at the last minute, with a cover sheet indicating it was unevaluated and put in under duress. The report was briefed to the Senate and Congress after its completion, and Susan Miller denies any pressure to change the conclusions of the report or manufacture intelligence.
Interestingly, the 1,000-page report by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was unanimously approved by the committee and chaired by Marco Rubio at the time, found Russian interference in the 2016 election. However, the report did not mention the politically-motivated fabrication claims made in the ODNI report.
The director of the ODNI, Tulsi Gabbard, has implied that Miller and her report are discredited. However, Susan Miller remains confident in the conclusions of her report and denies being discredited. She maintains that she is simply telling the truth about what happened during the 2016 election.
It is important to note that Susan Miller did not confirm that the National Security Agency hacked the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Party, or Hillary Clinton's campaign. The report does not make any such claims.
This revelation, if confirmed, could have significant implications for the understanding of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the subsequent investigations and political actions that followed. The full report is yet to be released to the public, and further investigation is needed to verify the claims made in it.
The ODNI report, revealing the fabrication of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) regarding Russian interference, creates a debate about the reliability of policy-and-legislation and politics in war-and-conflicts. The subsequent investigations and political actions, based on this ICA, are now under question as general-news outlets and government bodies dispute the validity of the evidence presented.
