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WikiLeaks is publishing the contents of CIA Director John Brennan’s email account

Published Oct 21st, 2015 5:20PM EDT
WikiLeaks CIA Director Email Hack
Image: Carolyn Kaster | AP

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Days after the email hack of CIA Chief John Brennan was originally reported by the New York Post, WikiLeaks announced that it has obtained the contents of the account and will be releasing documents throughout the week.

READ MORE: Why is the CIA Director still using AOL for email?

“John Brennan became the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in March 2013, replacing General David Petraeus who was forced to step down after becoming embroiled in a classified information mishandling scandal,” WikiLeaks explains.

“Brennan was made Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism on the commencement of the Obama presidency in 2009–a position he held until taking up his role as CIA chief.”

Six documents are available to view on the site at the time of writing. The first two are extraordinarily comprehensive, covering Brennan’s security clearance before he took the position and “a legal quarrel between the CIA and ‘The Analysis Corporation,'” but the next four documents consist of 10 pages in total.

Those are the ones you might want to check out.

The ‘Intel Position Paper’ draft discusses challenges for the intelligence community in the United States and urges the government to stay out of its way while it does its job. ‘The Conundrum of Iran’ is Brennan’s recommendations for the incoming president (before Obama was elected) on how to deal with Iran.

The final two documents were the two that caught my eye, concerning the reliability of torture as a tool to gather information. In light of everything we’ve learned over the past decade, some of the language in these messages is truly shocking.

Presumably, WikiLeaks will continue to publish new documents to this page in the coming days and weeks. Be on the lookout if you’re interested in learning more about the CIA director and his views.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.