"The new administration — and any president — needs to recognize that this is a challenging and dangerous world," CIA director John Brennan says. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Brennan: Recognize intel community's importance or put country at risk

CIA director John Brennan said that Donald Trump’s administration must recognize the importance of the intelligence community, or the president-elect will put the country “at great risk and peril.”

"The new administration — and any president — needs to recognize that this is a challenging and dangerous world, and that the intelligence community and intelligence professionals can help to keep this country safe and protect our national security interests," Brennan said on David Axelrod’s podcast “The Axe Files.” “And any president or administration that does not recognize that is one that is putting this country's national security at great risk and peril.”


Brennan, speaking to former Obama campaign strategist Axelrod last Thursday in an interview posted Monday, reiterated that intelligence officials have “great confidence” in their conclusion that Russian hackers sought to disrupt the election through cyberattacks on Democratic Party officials during the campaign.

Despite the consensus of intelligence agencies, Trump for weeks had refused to accept that conclusion while offering no alternative evidence. His resistance prompted the dismay of many lawmakers, including prominent Republicans in the Senate, and the rebuke of former intelligence officials who warned that he was sowing distrust in their work among voters.

Brennan and other intelligence officials briefed the president-elect on their findings on Russia, summarized in a new report requested by President Barack Obama, on Friday. After the briefing, Trump released a statement that did not explicitly state whether or not he accepted the findings.

He also claimed, incorrectly, that the report concluded that the hacking did not influence the election results. While the report made clear that hackers did not attack voting machines or change the vote total, the report did not conclude whether or not the hacks — which repeatedly embarrassed Hillary Clinton’s campaign — had an impact on voters’ opinions during the race.

Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, claimed Sunday that Trump now accepts Russia’s role in the hacking, but the president-elect himself has not said this.