A panel of House lawmakers is investigating allegations that intelligence reports about the fight against ISIS are being doctored to make the Obama administration’s strategy appear more successful than it actually is.
The Defense Department inspector general is also reported to be investigating the charges. “I am concerned by allegations that political objectives are being taken into consideration regarding our national security,” House Oversight Committee member Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) said in a Monday statement. “The data collected by our military personnel and intelligence agents is critical to accurately addressing threats and should not be influenced or altered to fit an advantageous political narrative. The Committee is taking these reports very seriously and we will investigate fully.”
Dozens of intelligence analysts have formally complained that their analysis is being edited to make it appear more favorable to the administration. “The cancer was within the senior level of the intelligence command,” a Defense Department official told The Daily Beast.
House Oversight chairman Jason Chaffetz and DeSantis, who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on national security, asked Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Inspector General Jon Rymer to provide more information on the charges.
#share#“We are also troubled to learn of allegations that those in the IC [intelligence community] who sought to improve the situation were met with political roadblocks, ‘urged to retire,’ or left on their own,” they wrote to Carter in a letter sent on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Retaining our trained and experienced intelligence analysts is an important factor in maintaining a strong IC capable of preempting threats and furthering our national security objectives.”
— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review.