On Friday, Townhall posted an article related to the former security professionals who signed the letter alleging that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation. It seems that not everyone who was asked to sign the letter did.
The article reports:
But now Fox News Contributor Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief who revealed in an op-ed this week for the first time that he had received the letter and was asked to sign it, is explaining why he didn’t add his name when he was asked to do so by former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell.
“I got the letter October 18, 2020,” Hoffman said Friday on Fox News Channel’s America Reports. He noted that, “at first glance, it seemed natural” to blame Putin for the existence of, and revelations from, Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell. “But, at the same time, there was no evidence, and the letter noted there was no evidence” backing up the conclusion, Hoffman added. “We needed to do the forensics,” he said, in order to assert a conclusion.
Hoffman added that, when he received the letter and was asked to sign it, there was no opportunity to edit its contents or “debate” its merits. Instead, the letter was already in its final form and being passed around seeking endorsements.
In making his decision not to add his name, Hoffman said he believed “it was not up to us to speculate” without evidence showing a connection to Russia. “So, I didn’t sign the letter — I typically don’t put my name to other people’s words,” Hoffman added, “and I didn’t respond.”
It is unfortunate that Mr. Hoffman’s decision was the exception rather than t he rule. I suspect that intelligence officers are trained to evaluate evidence before making decisions. Evidently this was not done in the case of this letter. Note that Mr. Hoffman mentions that there was no opportunity to either edit the letter or debate its merits.