DoD IG investigating skewed ISIS intelligence reports

The New York Times reports that the Department of Defense Inspector General Office is investigating complaints from at least one civilian Defense Intelligence Agency analyst that military officials provided overly-optimistic intelligence reports to policy-makers about the effect of military operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria;

Fuller details of the claims were not clear, including when the assessments were said to have been altered and who at Central Command the analyst said was responsible. The officials, speaking only on condition of anonymity about classified matters, said that the recently opened investigation focused on whether military officials had changed the conclusions of draft intelligence assessments during a review process and then passed them on.

The prospect of skewed intelligence raises new questions about the direction of the government’s war with the Islamic State, and could help explain why pronouncements about the progress of the campaign have varied widely.

This is not my surprised face. The Pentagon has been firing every officer who told them the truth, so, the word has gone out that anyone who gives the White House any information that might indicate that the emperor has no clothes is in danger of losing their jobs. I’m pretty sure that the practice won’t end just because of an IG inquiry.

Category: Terror War