Overview

• CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the lessons-learned review in May and declassified it on July 2–3, 2025.
• The report identifies multiple procedural anomalies, including a highly compressed timeline and excessive involvement by agency heads.
• Analysts faced uneven access to compartmented intelligence as agencies like the Defense Intelligence Agency and State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research were excluded.
• The review criticizes the inclusion of unverified Steele dossier material and argues the CIA and FBI should have rated their core judgment at “moderate confidence” rather than “high confidence.”
• Despite those tradecraft shortcomings, the assessment’s central conclusion remains intact: President Vladimir Putin sought to influence the 2016 vote to benefit Donald Trump.