Screens in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room show President Donald Trump delivering a primetime address on July 16, 2026, during which the White House unveiled a collection of declassified documents. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Declassified intelligence is not the same as proof

An international affairs professor with nearly 30 years of experience in the US intelligence community – including at the CIA and NSA – explains how to evaluate the newly released election documents
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem initially said Alex Pretti committed an ‘act of domestic terrorism’ before saying later that ‘we were using the best information we had at the time.’ Al Drago/Getty Image

A terrorism label that comes before the facts can turn ‘domestic terrorism’ into a useless designation

A ‘domestic terrorism’ label that comes before the facts teaches the public to treat the term as propaganda rather than factual diagnosis.

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