Troubling finds within the House probe of ‘Distorted’ intel on Daesh ‘ISIS’

A damning investigation by House Republicans released on Wednesday has found that the intelligence arm of the U.S. Military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) routinely produced intelligence that “distorted, suppressed, or substantially altered” the results of the campaign against Daesh.

1 – Top CENTCOM leaders modified intelligence assessments to present an “unduly positive” assessment of combating Daesh and training the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

2 – Intelligence analysts declined to be interviewed, possibly out of fear of reprisals from CENTCOM leadership, while the interviews that did take place were under the watchful eyes of DoD officials.

3 – CENTCOM intel agents operated within a ‘toxic’ leadership environment.

4 – General Austin’s claim to Congress that Daesh was in a “defensive crouch” did not reflect the data possessed at the time by CENTCOM senior leaders.

5 – CENTCOM established an intelligence “fusion center” for Daesh-related intel, but kept out analysts whose views conflicted with senior intelligence leaders.

6 – Restrictions were implemented for analysts whose views dissented from the mainstream inside CENTCOM.

7 – Analysis was minimized in favor of details from coalition forces while intelligence was skewed to be ‘optimistic.’

8 – Shocking survey results showed analysts believed data was “distorted, suppressed, or substantially altered” by their supervisors.

9 – Even after whistleblower complaints and the “alarming” internal survey last year, the Pentagon took no steps to correct its allegedly distorted intelligence process.

10 – Mirroring the Benghazi House Committee’s complaints against the State Department, the Joint Task Force here writes it “did not receive access to all the materials it requested” and details a process of denying information and records.