Intelligence officers like to distinguish between knowable secrets that spies can steal and fuzzier mysteries that have to be assessed without final, definitive proof. The intent of Russia’s covert meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is probably somewhere between the two.

But after conversations with a half-dozen knowledgeable sources, here are two simple judgments: Russia’s secret hacking against Democratic Party officials threatened the integrity of the U.S. political system. And President-elect Donald Trump shouldn’t have criticized the CIA after its analysts told Congress about the Kremlin’s efforts. Trump, unbelievably, seemed to be taking a potential adversary’s side against his own nation’s intelligence professionals…

An administration official wouldn’t comment on whether Obama had shared with Trump the intelligence assessment and plan for wider review. But it’s unlikely such an important decision wouldn’t have been conveyed to his transition team, which makes Trump’s Twitter blasts at the CIA last weekend all the more puzzling and disturbing.