Published: 2:09pm, 10 Mar, 2017 Updated: 2:55pm, 20 Jul, 2018
President Donald Trump has criticised the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) , with his Press Secretary , Sean Flynn , stating that Trump believes the agency 's cyber - defence systems are " outdated and in need of updating " . The comments follow the dumping of Vault 7 , a cache of documents detailing the CIA 's cyber - espionage methods , by WikiLeaks . The CIA has " grave concern ... about the release of national security and classified information that threatens and undermines our nation ’s security ” , according to Trump . Meanwhile , WikiLeaks editor - in - chief , Julian Assange , has accused the CIA of " devastating incompetence " for failing to protect its secrets .