By Aaron Miller-

President-elect Trump has constantly discredited the view from the CIA that Russia has been launching cyber attacks on America. increases criticism of agencies on Twitter, and has cited Wikileaks editor Julian Assange’s comments denying Russian involvement.

Donald Trump’s has regularly criticised  U.S intelligence agencies, and recently did so again, after the Central Intelligence Agency and others reached an assessment that Russian hackers conducted a cyber attack operation with the goal of helping Mr. Trump win the election.

Mr. Trump previously has questioned the CIA’s expertise, often pointing to faulty intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in 2002 and 2003. But he went several steps further Wednesday morning, when he paraphrased WikiLeaks editor in chief Julian Assange as saying “Russians did not give him the info!”.

Trump has unnerved U.S law makers more by citing the errors made by the intelligence agencies that caused the Gulf war in Iraq. Both the U.S government and the u.k government were in agreement that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, a claim that later proved to be false. Critics have since concluded that the Iraq war was really about oil.

This is the view most commonly held by ordinary citizens in the U.K and many parts of the word, though it isn’t backed by hard evidence. The possibility the West were in genuine error, wrongly believing weapons of mass destruction were in Saddam Hussein’s possession. This view remains difficult for some to accept, given disclosures last year and in previous years that former prime minister Tony Blair was cautioned by some advisers to be wary about the claim.

Whatever the case with Iraq, the claim by U.S. intelligence in relation to hacking by the Russian government depends on the facts. Trump is not wrong in questioning the evidence of the claim, since ultimate guilt leglaly and traditionally rests on evidence. Evidence is an important requirement in every sphere of life. Evidence, however, does not always override suspicion or truth in circumstances where the needed evidence is not there”

“Intelligence community is the FIRSTLINE in our war against terror,” Sen. Claire McCaskill said on Twitter. “The disrespect shown them by Trump is stunning. They’re the best in world.”Mccaskill may be right that they are the best, but this may not mean everyone must agree with their finding. The entire dispute around Russia and cyber attacks is clouded by the incertitude around the whole truth of the matter.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, speaking Wednesday on Capitol Hill said Mr. Trump had a “very sincere and healthy American scepticism” on intelligence conclusions on Russia.” He said Mr. Trump is “skeptical” because of the intelligence community’s past conclusions on other matters.

Mr. Trump in past Twitter messages and statements hasn’t questioned intelligence community assessments on matters other than Russia and Mr. Putin. For instance, he has said that North Korea poses a nuclear threat and is trying to develop missile technology that could reach the U.S., a view that is consistent with that of intelligence leaders