Military intelligence reports on the threat posed by the Islamic State were softened after leaving the original authors’ desks at U.S. Central Command, a congressional task force has found.
“There’s an emerging pattern that as the intelligence reports move higher in the chain-of-command, they become more rose-colored with respect to the threat from radical Islamic terror, from ISIS,” a source familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Examiner.
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A congressional task force was established in December to investigate the Central Command intelligence reports after whistleblowers alleged that their analysis of the Islamic State was being manipulated to make the threat seem less severe. They haven’t established why the intelligence was skewed — whether it was due to faulty assumptions or more pernicious meddling — but they’ve found that the bureaucracy had a corrosive effect on the intelligence reports.
It’s not clear when the task force will be able to complete its work. Late last month, Republicans accused officials of deleting emails they were seeking as part of the investigation.
But the source told the Examiner that the task force has already reviewed “scores” of reports and found a clear trend. “There’s a pattern that demonstrates that [the reports] get weaker,” according to the source.
A whistleblower told Congress that military brass have been ignoring warning signs about terrorism in Iraq since the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011. “They’ve spent more money and time trying to push down this intelligence … than they have actually spending time and effort on real security,” retired Army Sgt. 1st Class William Kotel said in September.
About 50 analysts have alleged that their reports were manipulated, sparking an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general. “The cancer was within the senior level of the intelligence command,” a defense official told The Daily Beast.
A former head of military intelligence defended Central Command and said the analysts gave President Obama “very, very clear” warnings about the rise of the Islamic State. “Intelligence doesn’t stop at Central Command,” retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said on Fox in November. “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.”
