John Sipher
John Sipher is a former American intelligence officer who served 28 years in the Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, retiring in 2014 as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service.[1][2][3] He served as station chief in Serbia following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000.[4] Since retirement, Sipher has worked as a foreign policy commentator and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.[5]
Career
Sipher joined the CIA in 1986 and served multiple overseas tours as chief of station and deputy chief of station in Europe, Asia, and high-threat environments.[5] He was a lead instructor at the CIA's clandestine training school and a lecturer at its leadership development program.[5] He received the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.[1]
Following the October 2000 overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Sipher became station chief in Serbia. In a 2020 interview with Foreign Affairs, Sipher stated that the CIA funneled "certainly millions of dollars" into the anti-Milošević campaign, meeting with opposition aides outside Serbia's borders and providing cash.[4]
Post-CIA career
After retiring in 2014, Sipher co-founded Spycraft Entertainment, a firm providing content to the entertainment industry.[5] He serves as a senior adviser to the Lincoln Project.[5] He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Politico, Foreign Affairs, and Lawfare, and has appeared on PBS NewsHour, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and BBC.[5]
Hunter Biden laptop letter
In October 2020, Sipher was among 51 former intelligence officials who signed a public letter stating that emails from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, reported by the New York Post, had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation."[6] The letter stated that the signatories did not know if the emails were genuine and did not have evidence of Russian involvement.[6]
In March 2022, Sipher wrote on social media that he took "special pride in personally swinging the election away from Trump," which he subsequently described as sarcasm.[7] Sipher stated that the letter's signatories "never claimed that material about Hunter Biden was made up" but rather that "the story fit a narrative being pushed by people with ties to Russian intelligence."[6]
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking the security clearances of all surviving signatories of the letter.[8]
Views on Trump as "an agent of a foreign power"
Sipher considers Trump a Russian agent in a limited sense. In an article that describes the terms of art used by intelligence professionals, he starts by saying Trump is not an "agent" in the traditional sense, and later says he is "an agent of a foreign power". He explains:[9]
I think it is entirely plausible that Mr. Trump is somehow compromised by his personal and financial dealings with Russia and Russians, but I do not think he is an 'agent' in the sense that intelligence professionals use the term. Let me explain. ...
Based on the U.S. definition of an agent, it is unlikely that President Trump is a recruited and controlled source of the Russian intelligence services. To a professional he is a nightmare. Yes, he is a cauldron of potentially exploitable vulnerabilities. ...
He clearly crossed a line and can be objectively labeled an agent of a foreign power in the standard definition of the word. From the Russian perspective, it is a win-win even if the relationship doesn't meet the cloak-and-dagger definition of a wholly clandestine espionage agent.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "CIA Veteran John Sipher On The Trump-Putin Meeting". NPR. July 17, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ "Profile: John Sipher". Just Security. July 17, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
- ↑ "Establishment of the Senior Intelligence Service" (PDF). September 12, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shimer, David (June 21, 2020). "When the CIA Interferes in Foreign Elections". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "John Sipher". Atlantic Council. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dilanian, Ken (February 24, 2024). "Former U.S. spies warned in 2020 that the Hunter Biden scandal had Russian fingerprints. They feel vindicated now". NBC News. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ "CIA veteran who signed Hunter Biden laptop letter says he sarcastically claimed credit for 2020 election". Washington Examiner. March 28, 2022. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ "Trump revokes security clearances of former officials who signed Hunter Biden laptop letter with executive action". CNN. January 21, 2025. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
- ↑ Sipher, John (April 16, 2019). "Is Trump a Russian Agent?: Explaining Terms of Art and Examining the Facts". Just Security. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
External links
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency
Category:American intelligence analysts
Category:Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Atlantic Council
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