A top defense official has acknowledged an inspector general probe into the manipulation of intelligence data.
The investigation “will play itself out,” Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart said on Thursday at a conference for intelligence officials. He said that if officials had done something wrong, “we will be better as a result.” Vincent serves as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. His admission follows a Wednesday story that 50 intelligence analysts had their reports on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria improperly altered by their superiors to portray the terrorist group as weaker than it is.
“The cancer was within the senior level of the intelligence command,” one defense official told the Daily Beast.
Earlier in the day, Stewart spoke before a panel of the House Intelligence Committee. He didn’t touch on the allegation at that time, but did speak about intelligence collection, saying it was a collaborative effort by the government.
“None of what I can do at DIA can be done without the efforts of NSA, or the things that are being done at CIA. So we bring all sources of information together, package that … and then we hopefully can bring that targetable information that can strike those actors in a very kinetic way,” Stewart said.
Speaking on CBS’ “This Morning” on the same day, a former CIA official suggested that someone needs to be fired if the allegations are true.
“One of the key aspects of the policymaking process in the United States is that analysts get to say what they think without any interference, without anyone changing it,” said Michael Morell, who served as deputy director and acting director of the CIA under President Obama. “So this is a very, very serious charge.”
“If there is truth that somebody has been meddling with their analysis, I think somebody needs to lose their job over it,” Morell said.
