Pentagon investigating complaints of manipulated ISIS intelligence

9/14/15
 
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from CNN,
9/13/15:

A top U.S. intelligence official confirmed that the Pentagon’s inspector general is investigating complaints that senior officials manipulated intelligence reports to create a more optimistic narrative on the fight against ISIS.

Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said Thursday that “the investigation will play itself out” and help “figure out if we did something wrong.”

“We will be better as a result of a very open investigation,” Stewart said in Washington while sitting on a conference panel with the directors of the CIA, NSA and FBI.

The Daily Beast reported earlier in the day that 50 intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command, some of them officially employed by the DIA, are supporting a complaint lodged by two senior intelligence analysts.

The analysts allege that senior officials are manipulating their intelligence reports to better fit the public frame that the U.S. is making steady progress in the fight against ISIS and other terrorist groups in the region — resulting in inaccurate information reaching the highest levels of government, including President Barack Obama.

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