CIA director warned Russia not to attack NATO members: US media

JUST IN: CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russia not to attack NATO members, amid US intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance, US media reports.

The CIA director just told Russia, in public, don't attack NATO.

John Ratcliffe delivered that warning to Moscow, according to US media reports, and the context matters more than the words. US intelligence has been assessing that Russia could seek to test the alliance, probe it, see whether Article Five actually means what it says on paper.

Spy chiefs don't usually broadcast their warnings. They pass them quietly, through channels nobody ever hears about. When the head of the CIA says this kind of thing out loud, for the cameras, the message isn't really aimed at the Kremlin. It's aimed at everyone watching, allies who need reassurance, and a Russian leadership that Washington clearly believes might be tempted.

So take the plain reading. American intelligence thinks an attack on a NATO member is possible enough that the CIA director felt he had to say the quiet part in public. That should sit with you tonight.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.