A former Obama-era intelligence official asked watchdogs to review whether the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials reflected the misuse of intelligence tradecraft.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A former senior intelligence official from the Obama administration raised concerns this year that the 2020 Hunter Biden laptop letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials displayed characteristics “consistent with coordinated intelligence deception operations,” according to a memo referred to the Justice Department.
Thomas Kuhns, a former senior intelligence officer and adviser to the deputy director of national intelligence during the Obama administration, submitted the complaint to the Intelligence Community Inspector General earlier this year, according to Just the News. The complaint has since been referred to the Justice Department’s inspector general.
The 2020 letter was released in the final weeks of the presidential campaign as voters were deciding between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. It was signed by former intelligence officials including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former CIA Director John Brennan.
The letter warned that reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop had the “hallmarks of a Russian information operation.” Joe Biden used the letter during the campaign to answer criticism involving his son’s foreign business dealings, drug use and alleged influence peddling.
Kuhns said his review was not based on partisan conclusions but on intelligence standards and analytic methods.
“This assessment is not a political statement. It is based on the research and analysis of testified behavior, language choices, omissions, coordination, and effects attributable to intelligence tradecraft,” Kuhns wrote in the memo to the ICIG hotline.
The full memo was made available as IG_Submission_Final_Blackout.pdf.
Kuhns said much of his government career focused on protecting analytic integrity standards inside the intelligence community. He said those standards can be used to assess whether intelligence methods were misapplied or politicized.
“This analysis is grounded in my expertise applying analytic integrity standards and intelligence tradecraft to evaluate raw and finished intelligence assessments/judgements. Those standards provide a framework to identify politicization, bias, and analytic weaknesses, as well as to identify whether intelligence tradecraft itself has been misapplied or misused,” he wrote.
Kuhns concluded that the way the laptop letter was planned, drafted and circulated raised concerns that warranted outside review.
According to his memo, “the planning, drafting, and dissemination” of the letter “exhibit characteristics consistent with coordinated intelligence deception operations and tradecraft […]”
Kuhns submitted the complaint in February and said the matter “warrants a standards-based review to assess whether the conduct constituted a deception operation involving trained US intelligence professionals targeting the American People.”
The Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office notified Kuhns on Thursday that the complaint had been referred to the Department of Justice inspector general. The ICIG declined to discuss Kuhns’ specific case, citing whistleblower protections, but told Just the News that it may refer information to other agencies when appropriate.
“IC OIG routinely receives information concerning matters that may implicate multiple Intelligence Community elements, other federal departments or agencies, or potential law enforcement interests,” the office said. “Consistent with our deconfliction requirements and ordinary practice, IC OIG may share, coordinate, or refer information to appropriate oversight and law enforcement partners for their review, awareness, or action, as warranted.
“The receipt, assessment, sharing, or referral of information should not be understood to confirm that IC OIG has opened, is conducting, or will conduct any particular investigation,” the office added. “IC OIG may conduct oversight or investigative activity independently, jointly, in coordination with other authorized entities, or not at all, at any time, depending on the facts, jurisdiction, equities, and applicable legal requirements.”
Kuhns’ memo said a line-by-line review of the letter showed what he described as “heavy use of deception tradecraft.” He cited the signatories’ status as trained intelligence professionals, the level of coordination before the letter was published, selective use of information, omission of key facts and invocation of personal authority.
One of Kuhns’ central concerns was that the former officials who signed the letter did not appear to seek confirmation from the FBI, even though the bureau had possessed the laptop since 2019.
“Several authors held active security clearances at the time and chose not to seek confirmation. All the authors have a large social and professional network that includes former and current FBI professionals; no one asked,” Kuhns wrote. “The primary author, former Director of CIA Analysis Michael Morell, did not request classified or unclassified confirmation from the responsible authority.”
Morell and other figures connected to the letter were interviewed by the House Judiciary Committee in 2024. Transcripts of interviews with Morell, former CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos and Brennan showed that the drafters acknowledged they had no hard evidence for the claims while also discussing political motivations, Just the News previously reported.
Polymeropoulos, who served under Morell, testified that Morell told him “the Biden world had asked for this.” Morell told congressional investigators that he had two purposes: warning Americans about possible Russian influence and helping Joe Biden politically.
“You wanted to help the Vice President. Why?” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked Morell.
“Because I wanted him to win the election,” Morell answered, according to the transcripts.
Morell also told investigators he had no direct evidence tying Russia to the laptop materials.
“So you had no direct evidence that Russia was involved in this matter at all, did you,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked.
“I did not,” Morell replied.
Morell had previously testified that a phone call from then-Biden campaign official Antony Blinken prompted the drafting effort, raising further questions about the Biden campaign’s role in the letter Biden later cited publicly.
The 2020 intelligence letter followed New York Post reporting on material from Hunter Biden’s laptop, including an email indicating Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a senior executive at Burisma Holdings.
Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma has drawn years of scrutiny from Congress and media outlets over allegations that he used his father’s position to help the Ukrainian energy company. Just the News previously reported that Hunter Biden’s U.S. law firm drafted a 58-page plan in 2014 aimed at helping Burisma navigate a criminal investigation in Ukraine, including efforts focused on influencing Joe Biden and the Obama administration.
Additional reporting has documented Hunter Biden’s efforts involving Burisma and his father’s influence in Washington, including accounts of the political fallout as then-Vice President Biden moved to push for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor. Just the News has also reported on related Burisma fallout and coverage of whether Biden changed official U.S. policy regarding the prosecutor who had been investigating Burisma.
The laptop letter has remained controversial because it was issued by former intelligence officials during the closing stretch of the 2020 campaign and was used by Biden allies to discredit reporting about the laptop. Pro-Biden advocates warned at the time that the laptop reporting reflected possible Russian disinformation.
Kuhns’ complaint now asks federal watchdogs to examine whether the letter was merely political commentary by former officials or whether trained intelligence professionals misused the credibility and methods of the intelligence community to influence American voters.