President Obama Sunday ordered an intelligence review of military reports which may have soft-pedaled the rise of the Islamic State. At a news conference in Malaysia, Obama insisted on his “expectation, which is the highest fidelity to facts, data, the truth.”
The former head of military intelligence fired back Monday. On Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn insisted that the “accuracy and the warnings that have been provided on the rise of radical Islamists over the last few years,” by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which he ran, “have been very, very clear.”
Flynn said the ongoing investigations into whether Central Command, or Centcom, was leaning on its analysts to soften some of their assessments is largely beside the point.
“Intelligence doesn’t stop at Central Command,” Flynn insisted. “There are 16 intelligence agencies, five large ones and two that provide what we call all-source intelligence assessments. Those are the most important ones that go to the White House.”
And the upshot of all of those assessments were serious warnings about the threat of the Islamic State and other manifestations of radical Islam.
The retired lieutenant general insisted that the focus of investigations should not be on Centcom but rather “at the top.”
“Where intelligence starts and stops is the White House. The president sets the priorities and he’s the number one customer. So if he’s not getting the intelligence he needs and if he’s not paying attention to what else is going on, then something else is wrong there,” Flynn said.
