Former NSA and CIA Director, retired US Air Force General Michael Hayden, and John Sipher, who worked for the CIA’s clandestine service for 28 years, were two of the 51 former intelligence agents who signed a letter in October 2020 warning media outlets that the Hunter Biden laptop story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
In February 2024, after indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov admitted to lying when he said President Joe Biden had received a $5 million bribe — and after prosecutors alleged that Smirnov was “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials” — many of the 51 intel agents said they felt vindicated by the allegations against the FBI informant.
When Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election and nominated former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) as Director of National Intelligence, Hayden and Sipher co-wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled Running Spies Is Not a Game for Amateurs. Their argument, in part, asserts that much of U.S. intelligence expertise — and America’s geopolitical advantage — resides in places Trump vilifies as the “deep state.” (Hayden and Sipher warn against Trump’s “promises to destroy” it.)
In the Times, the authors characterized Gabbard as “wholly unqualified for the job,” asserting she “has never directed or managed anything, and has embraced conspiracy theories and championed Russian disinformation.”
Hayden and Sipher added about Trump’s second administration: “At minimum we can predict chaos, incompetence and a move toward cronyism, wherein people like Elon Musk potentially misuse intelligence for personal or commercial benefit.”
When soon after taking office Trump revoked security clearances of Hayden, Sipher and all 51 national security professionals who had signed the letter, Elon Musk celebrated the news on X by writing: “The hammer of justice has come.”
The hammer of justice has come https://t.co/VnekAC0fwI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2025