Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel in statements late Monday criticized leaks of classified information, amid recent media reports claiming that Russian military intelligence offered bounties to Taliban-linked terrorists to assassinate U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
“U.S. and coalition force protection is a critical priority for both the president and the intelligence community,” Ratcliffe said in a statement. “The selective leaking of any classified information disrupts the vital interagency work to collect, assess, and mitigate threats and places our forces at risk. It is also, simply put, a crime.”
