On January 6, 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified assessment prepared by the CIA, FBI, and NSA. It concluded that Russian government-affiliated hackers breached Democratic National Committee systems between 2015 and 2016, stole emails, donor lists, and opposition research, and used DCLeaks and WikiLeaks to publish the material. In March 2016, a spear-phishing attack against Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta obtained more than 20,000 pages of emails, which were released by WikiLeaks later that year. A joint DHS-FBI report issued on December 29, 2016, detailed Russian cyber tools and infrastructure used against American systems.
The assessment also described an influence campaign involving internet trolls, bots, and Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT. U.S. intelligence agencies said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government sought to damage Hillary Clinton, undermine confidence in the election, and erode the U.S.-led liberal democratic order. The October 7, 2016, DHS-ODNI statement said the scope and sensitivity of the activity indicated authorization by Russia’s senior leadership. The report explicitly did not assess whether the operation changed voter behavior, public opinion, or election results; it examined Russian intentions, capabilities, and actions. A Senate Intelligence Committee review released in July 2018 called the assessment a sound intelligence product.
