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Former DIA Director: Manipulated ISIS Intel Probe 'Ought to Start at the Top'
Townhall.com ^ | November 30, 2015 | Guy Benson

Posted on 11/30/2015 3:07:30 PM PST by Kaslin

Last week, Fox News and the Daily Beast followed-up on a September report in which dozens of US intelligence professionals accused their superiors of "cooking" intelligence assessments related to the threat posed by ISIS. There was a "persistent effort... to downplay or even change reports that that questioned how much progress a U.S.-led coalition is making in the Obama administration's stated goal to degrade, destroy, and defeat ISIS. Draft reports that contained a more pessimistic view, or that questioned the efficacy of hitting certain targets, were sent back to the analysts for more extensive rewriting," the Daily Beast reported.  Who gave these orders and why?  We floated an obvious theory: The Obama administration suppressed and discouraged analyses that failed to align with a self-serving political narrative to which the White House has been wedded since at least 2012.  This speculation isn't merely intuitive; several pieces of evidence support it, including intelligence officials' murmurs about "political pressures from Washington" dating back as far as the late summer.  The New York Times also reported that America's former Defense Intelligence chief has alleged that Team Obama ignored 'dire' warnings about ISIS' rise in 2012 because they "didn't meet the narrative."  That same official, former DIA director Michael Flynn, has been leveling serious accusations for months, asserting that the White House's failed policies are attributable to a series of "willful decisions" to ignore clear intelligence:

Ex-DIA boss Michael Flynn: White House took "willful decision" to fund, train Syria Islamists ISIS

Flynn told Fox News' Megyn Kelly last week that based on his personal experience, the probe into manipulated ISIS intelligence should start inside the Obama White House:

Gen. Flynn discusses intelligence Obama received on ISIS

"The warnings that have been provided on the rise of radical Islamists over the last few years have been very, very clear. So what the president has actually received from the national intelligence system is pretty good intelligence, and I would say it's very accurate...The focus of this investigation -- and they'll find whatever they're going to find in terms of the tactical issues at CENTCOM -- but the focus of this investigation ought to start at the top. Where intelligence starts and stops is at the White House. The president sets the priorities, and he's the number one customer [of intelligence]."

The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes quotes several current and former US intelligence professionals who allege that the administration has a long record of ignoring and concealing politically unhelpful information.  This issue came to a head, they say, over the handling of data retrieved during the Bin Laden raid that contradicted the administration's rosy public pronouncements:

The current storm over ISIS intelligence is not a new controversy, though most of the media are treating it as such. It's better understood as an installment in a long-running scandal that extends beyond CENTCOM in Tampa, into the upper reaches of the U.S. intelligence community and perhaps into the White House...Taken together, this new primary-source intelligence [gathered at the Bin Laden compound] undercut happy-talk from the White House about progress in defeating jihadist terror. Al Qaeda wasn't dying; it was growing. The Afghan Taliban wasn't moderating; its leaders were as close to al Qaeda as ever. The same Iranian regime promising to abide by the terms of a deal to limit its nuclear program had provided safe haven for al Qaeda leaders and their families and had facilitated al Qaeda attacks on the interests of the United States and its allies...

Analysts on the CENTCOM/DIA team were told they could not include information from the bin Laden documents in finished intelligence products. As word of the contents of the documents began to circulate informally in intelligence circles, one official on the team was summoned to Washington and ordered to quit analyzing the documents. To date, only a fraction of the document collection has been fully exploited, and fewer than 150 of the documents have been declassified and released..."We were certainly blocked from seeing all the documents, and we were given limited time and resources to exploit the ones we had," says Michael Pregent, a DIA analyst on the CENTCOM team. In late spring 2012, the CENTCOM team received approval from Clapper's office to review the documents uninterrupted for five days at the National Media Exploitation Center in McLean, Virginia. CIA director David Petraeus, whose agency retained executive authority over the collection, supported the trip. But shortly after the visit was approved, it was canceled. The travel "was canceled hours before our trip by the NSC," says Pregent, and the CENTCOM team was "disbanded" a short time later.

The NSC is the president's National Security Council, and the CENTCOM intelligence team was told the decision to disband was triggered by sequestration. Hayes' sources say this incident, and the reengineering and burying of ISIS intelligence, wasn't unusual:

This was not an isolated incident. Four sources with knowledge of the bin Laden documents tell TWS that the White House was intimately involved in limiting access to [evidence]. NSC officials handpicked the first set of documents released to the public—chosen to reinforce the impression that bin Laden was weak and isolated when he was killed and that al Qaeda was in disarray. The release of those documents, six months before the 2012 presidential election, coincided with a push by the White House and the Obama campaign to position Obama as strong on terror. Derek Harvey, a senior DIA official, served as a lead analyst on the DIA team that exploited the documents. Harvey recently told TWS that the U.S. government hasn't "done anything close to a full exploitation." ... These are not anonymous officials making frivolous claims against the commander in chief. They're professionals with nearly a century of experience between them who are speaking out because of what they saw and what they're seeing now. And they’re speaking for many in the ranks...The allegations that intelligence on ISIS was being manipulated at CENTCOM are not noteworthy because they’re new. In this case, they're noteworthy because they're not.

The president -- who refuses to meaningfully alter his ISIS strategy, focusing instead on slandering his domestic critics -- insists he's committed to the truth:

Obama has ordered an inquiry into accusations that intelligence reports on ISIS were altered https://t.co/EONIswPTdQ— David Joachim, NYT (@davidjoachim) November 23, 2015


Internal investigations with significant political implications are always carried out with the utmost integrity and thoroughnessright



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016election; intelligence; isis; manipulation; michaelflynn; obama
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1 posted on 11/30/2015 3:07:30 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

If Trump or Cruz win the presidency, look for Obama to officially pardon himself for any and all crimes he may have committed from birth until his final day in office. I’m NOT joking. He will also officially pardon his compadres in office.


2 posted on 11/30/2015 3:12:32 PM PST by House Atreides (Cruz or lose! Does TG have to be an ass every day?)
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To: House Atreides

He can, and will, pardon just about everybody. I don’t know if he can actually pardon himself.


3 posted on 11/30/2015 3:16:13 PM PST by Former Proud Canadian (Sell your television. Buy gold, silver, land, guns, and ammo.)
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To: Former Proud Canadian

The narcissist will certainly try.


4 posted on 11/30/2015 3:19:09 PM PST by House Atreides (Cruz or lose! Does TG have to be an ass every day?)
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To: Kaslin

that very few of the documents have been publicly released is inconsequential. The meat of the story is that the NSC STOPPED THE ANALYSIS of them by CENTCOM and DIA. That stopping of the analysis is, in my view, a violation by whomever ordered it, of one’s oath to defend the US and the Constitution.


5 posted on 11/30/2015 3:21:59 PM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: Kaslin

Just think. If we had had an actual press these last seven years all this obstructionism by the Obama/Jarret/Clinton cabal would have been irrelevant. They would have been crucified long ago. The press are vermin.


6 posted on 11/30/2015 3:33:37 PM PST by mbrfl (fightingmad)
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To: GreyFriar
That stopping of the analysis is, in my view, a violation by whomever ordered it, of one's oath to defend the US and the Constitution.



7 posted on 11/30/2015 3:33:58 PM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. RIH-GOP)
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8 posted on 11/30/2015 3:36:53 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: itsahoot

LOL! Who is that?


9 posted on 11/30/2015 3:37:28 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear (I'm fed up.)
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To: Kaslin
The ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF is only fooling those WHO WANT TO BE FOOLED.
The rest of us know that he's furnishing the path for our ENEMIES to get NUCLEAR WEAPONS to DESTROY Israel and the United States.
The Arab-Kenyan Barack Hussein Obama II, (a.k.a. Barry Soetoro), ( the one guilty of TREASON ! ) truly IS the greatest danger TO BOTH the United States of America, AND Israel !

Pay attention to just HOW MUCH the ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF and his IRANIAN SPY HATES CHRISTIANS !

This stinking piece of crap that's defiling our Oval Office is importing the Radical Islamists that will kill us.
When will congress get the guts to IMPEACH, CONVICT and EXECUTE that ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF ? Read this article that exposes FACTS about Obama at Occidental College in 1981:
Also, don't forget this: I'll bet the ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF and his IRANIAN SPY are intending on EVERY ONE OF THEM to be used for importing a RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORIST !

UNHCR data confirms it: 75% of the so-called refugees arriving in Europe are MEN.
10 posted on 11/30/2015 3:39:18 PM PST by Yosemitest (It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Kaslin
Anti-American Obozo in the WH screams that that segment of our Constitution needs to be amended/strengthened. It will have to include accountability for those in the Congress who fail to uphold their oath.
11 posted on 11/30/2015 3:42:05 PM PST by drypowder
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To: Kaslin
I am increasingly convinced that Obama works for the Islamic State.

Seriously.

And I'm not crazy. I've been studying history and politics since I was 14yrs old...and that was a long, long time ago.

I ain't never seen no sh!t like this.

Look at the OBVIOUS collaboration and support of Turkey and ISIS.

Who now runs all those countries we toppled, or threatens to do so shortly?

ISIS.

I'm convinced.

And I'm not crazy:)

12 posted on 11/30/2015 3:44:08 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
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To: Yosemitest
So, did the men abandon their women and children back home (in an unsafe country)?

Probably threw them overboard. After all, they have all those mademoiselles and frauleins to look forward to...

13 posted on 11/30/2015 3:44:08 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Kaslin

Yes and when we find out we have a traitor in charge that nobody has the guts to do anything about, then what?


14 posted on 11/30/2015 3:48:07 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
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To: Smokin' Joe

15 posted on 11/30/2015 4:03:59 PM PST by Yosemitest (It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Yosemitest
Simple solution. Approve certain vessels for trans med and other traffic. Those not approved get warned, and if they fail to turn about, get sunk.

Cargo ships get searched well offshore.

This is war, and the sooner Europe realizes this, the better their chances of survival.

16 posted on 11/30/2015 4:09:08 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Mariner

It gets worse.
We assassinated Qadaffi 4 years ago
Tonight unconfirmed reports indicate a large ISIS force ( or collection of ISIS sympathizer factions) is readying an attack on Tripoli and that ISIS is setting up islamist administrative controls over the inhabitants of Surt. As long as the Europeans and Chinese continue to pump Libyan oil, probably no one even gives a flying crap.

Meanwhile most of the UK’s operational RAF fighters are deploying to Cyprus even though the UK govt has not agreed to Cameron’s demands to strike in Syria.

Look at the world the clean articulate community organizer and the “good wife “ former Secretary of State have led us to...


17 posted on 11/30/2015 4:09:31 PM PST by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: Smokin' Joe

Leave those stinking’ Muzzl’ems with their SATANIC VERSUS of their INFERIOR RELIGION on their INFERIOR LAND that God CURSED THEM WITH !


18 posted on 11/30/2015 4:12:04 PM PST by Yosemitest (It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Kaslin

Nothing will happen.


19 posted on 11/30/2015 4:12:43 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (islam is a totalitarian death cult founded by a child rapist.)
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To: Yosemitest
It works for me. The article you linked brought up a salient point all would do well to remember:

These refugees are all headed toward non-Muslim countries, rather than other Muslim countries.

Now, aside from the goal of conquest, why would that be?

20 posted on 11/30/2015 4:17:03 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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