December 4, 2023
The Honorable William J. Burns
Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Director Burns:
The Committee on the Judiciary and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are continuing our oversight of the October 19, 2020, “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails” signed by 51 former intelligence community officials. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recently made a production to the Committees of documents designated and marked as classified which were originally unclassified documents and retained their previous unclassified markings. This previously unclassified information directly concerns the CIA’s awareness of the public statement before its publication, and thus materially and substantially advances our oversight. We urge you to promptly produce this information to the Committee in an unclassified manner. On October 31, 2023, the CIA made a classified production in response to our requests for documents about the CIA’s role in the public statement. After a careful review of the classified production of documents that were originally unclassified and retained their previous unclassified markings, it is apparent that the classification of these documents was not for the purpose of protecting American national security, but rather to shield the CIA from potential embarrassment. Thus, it appears that the CIA’s decision to baselessly classify these documents frustrates and impedes the Committees’ ability to fulfill our constitutional oversight obligations. Accordingly, we ask that you reproduce this material to the Committee in an unclassified manner as soon as possible but no later than December 15, 2023. In addition, we understand that former intelligence officials often return to the intelligence community under private contract for their previous agencies.
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It is vital to the Committees’ oversight to understand whether any of the signatories of the
public statement were actively employed by CIA as contractors or consultants at the time they signed the public statement. If so, this information would raise fundamental concerns about the role of the CIA as it pertains to the October 19, 2020, “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails” signed and published by 51 former intelligence community officials in the weeks preceding the 2020 presidential election. As such, we request the following information:
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Art Keller,
What Do Former CIA Spies Do When They Quit the Spy Game?,
F
ORBES
(Oct. 12, 2012).
The Honorable William J. Burns
December 4, 2023
Page 2
1.
A list of all signatories of the October 19, 2020, “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails,” who were on active contract or consulting for the CIA at any time from January 1, 2020, to the present, including the following information:
a.
The date range(s) for which these signatories were on active contract or consulting for the CIA;
b.
The subject matter(s) or topic(s) of these contracts;
c.
Whether these contracts pertained to Hunter Biden’s business dealings, Biden family influence-peddling, Ukraine, or the Hunter Biden laptop scandal; and
d.
The financial terms of the contract(s).
Please produce this information in an unclassified matter as soon as possible but no later than December 15, 2023. If a complete response requires the production of classified information, please endeavor to produce as much information as possible in an unclassified manner and transmit any classified information under separate cover.
Finally, we expect the CIA to produce all responsive documents to the Committees’ March 21, 2023, and May 16, 2023, requests as well as the requests made herein in an unredacted form no later than December 15, 2023. If the CIA does not produce all responsive documents by this time, the Committees may be forced to resort to compulsory process.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan
Michel R. Turner Chairman
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence
cc:
The Honorable Jim Himes, Ranking Member
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary