# The attribution problem in the DNC hack

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The attribution problem in the DNC hack," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-attribution-problem-in-the-dnc-hack/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Asked in 2017 whether he had any confidence in the intelligence community's assessments of Russian interference, John Kiriakou said he had none — objecting that no one had ever defined what was meant by hacking, that the published evidence told the public nothing, and that an agency asking to be taken at its word should not be.*

- **Assessments rejected:** October 2016 and January 2017
- **Central complaint:** "Hacking" never defined
- **Rule applied:** Do not take their word for it
- **Told to:** Peter B. Collins, 19 May 2017

Asked directly whether he had any confidence in the assertions contained in the October and January assessments about Russia's attempt to manipulate the election in favour of Trump, Kiriakou answered: no, and said he had been quite vocal about it in the columns he wrote for Reader Supported News.[1]

## The rule

The first objection is a general one, and Kiriakou states it as a standing principle rather than a judgment about this case. Any time the intelligence community or the FBI lays out a story and then says *"take my word for it"*, he said, don't take their word for it.[1]

## The undefined term

The second objection is narrower and, in his view, fatal. The whole notion of hacking, he said, is overblown, because no one has ever actually defined what they mean by hacking.[1][2]

He then supplied the definition that would matter and tested the claim against it. Did the Russians somehow steal the election from Hillary Clinton? No — in his assessment Clinton was a terrible candidate, and he added that she had stolen the primary election from Bernie Sanders. But if the accusation is that the Russians hacked voting machines and changed votes, or somehow stole the election for Trump, then that is a serious charge: lay out the evidence and let us take a look at it.[2]

The evidence, he said, had not been laid out. What had been provided told us literally nothing.[3]

## The alternative account

Kiriakou also raised the account given by Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who lost his job after blowing the whistle on the Uzbek torture programme. Murray told the Guardian that a DNC staffer had printed off the Podesta emails and given them to him, and that he personally delivered them to WikiLeaks — that there was no Russian hack and that he was the middleman between the DNC staff and WikiLeaks. Kiriakou's complaint was that the mainstream media had ignored the assertion.[4][5]

He did not present Murray's account as established. The point he pressed throughout was procedural rather than substantive: that a claim of this magnitude had been circulated without the evidence that would let anyone outside the government test it, and that his own experience of official narratives was reason enough not to supply the missing confidence himself.

## See also

- [Craig Murray](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/craig-murray)
- [The Flynn charges](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-flynn-charges)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act)

## Sources

1. In-Depth Interview - Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks About His Prison Experience (2017-05-19), at 44:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auddfe68a43b&t=2652s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-19-peter-b-collins-show-in-depth-interview-former-cia-officer-john-ki/
2. In-Depth Interview - Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks About His Prison Experience (2017-05-19), at 44:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auddfe68a43b&t=2685s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-19-peter-b-collins-show-in-depth-interview-former-cia-officer-john-ki/
3. In-Depth Interview - Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks About His Prison Experience (2017-05-19), at 45:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auddfe68a43b&t=2716s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-19-peter-b-collins-show-in-depth-interview-former-cia-officer-john-ki/
4. In-Depth Interview - Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks About His Prison Experience (2017-05-19), at 46:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auddfe68a43b&t=2782s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-19-peter-b-collins-show-in-depth-interview-former-cia-officer-john-ki/
5. In-Depth Interview - Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou Talks About His Prison Experience (2017-05-19), at 46:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auddfe68a43b&t=2816s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2017-05-19-peter-b-collins-show-in-depth-interview-former-cia-officer-john-ki/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-attribution-problem-in-the-dnc-hack/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt