The Pentagon’s independent watchdog has concluded that while there was a widespread perception that intelligence reports prepared at U.S. Central Command painted a “rosier” picture of progress in the war against the Islamic State, intelligence was not manipulated.
A report by the Department of Defense’s inspector general, released Wednesday, said “In our investigation we found a strong perception among many intelligence analysts … [that] leaders were attempting to distort the intelligence products, either through excessive editing, imposition of a narrative, requiring a higher burden of proof for ‘bad news.'”
The report concluded, “That widespread perception alone indicated a significant problem.”
The investigation stemmed from the formal complaints of two lower level intelligence analysts at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., who said during 2014 and 2015, “senior intelligence leaders imposed a ‘false narrative’ on analysts and analytic leaders that Iraqi forces, with U.S. help, were performing well on the battlefield, while ISIL was struggling,” the report said.
Investigators pored over 17 million documents, including 2 million emails, and interviewed 120 people under oath, but found no evidence that any intelligence was falsified.
The investigators had a harder time determining if the intelligence was skewed to portray counter-Islamic State operations in a rosier light, or to show that the Iraqi Security Forces were stronger and the Islamic State weaker than the intelligence warranted.
“We found strongly held views on both sides, with many witnesses believing that intelligence was distorted, many others rejecting those allegations, and the subjects adamantly denying it,” the report said.
But in the end it could not substantiate the central allegation that the final intelligence products were “falsified, distorted, delayed, or suppressed.”
“In short, we did not find systematic or intentional distortion of intelligence,” said investigators. “We also did not conclude that anyone committed misconduct.”
The DoD inspector general did find management problems that led to the perception that intelligence reports were being cooked. “We found deficiencies in those processes that we believe contributed to the allegations, including significant communication and feedback problems.”
“We believe that the intelligence practices related to [Operation Inherent Resolve] intelligence products … could have, and should have, been better.”
