US National Intelligence Official Forced Analysts to Rewrite Data to Avoid Framing Trump - NYT
Kyiv • UNN
An aide to the US Director of National Intelligence ordered analysts to change data to support Trump's claim about the deportation of people associated with a Venezuelan gang. This raised concerns about the politicization of intelligence.
Tulsi Gabbard, the chief aide to the director of U.S. national intelligence, forced unit analysts to rewrite prepared data so that it would not contradict President Donald Trump's statement on the need to deport people "involved" with the Venezuelan gang. This was reported by The New York Times with reference to its sources, reports UNN.
Details
According to the American publication, published e-mails from internal correspondence at the U.S. National Intelligence Council showed that Tulsi Gabbard, the chief aide to the director of U.S. national intelligence, ordered analysts to edit their prepared intelligence assessment. He was motivated by the need to "protect" President Donald Trump from attacks for the administration's claim that the Venezuelan government controls a criminal group.
We need to "rewrite" a bit and do more analytical work "so that this document is not used against the Director of National Intelligence or the President (DNI or POTUS)
Last week, The New York Times reported that Kent forced analysts to revise their assessment, dated February 26, of the relationship between the Venezuelan government and the Tren de Aragua gang after it became clear that the assessment contradicted Trump's next statement. The disclosure of the exact text of Mr. Kent's emails added to the picture of politicized interference.
Addendum
The analysis prepared by experts, dated April 7, contradicts a key claim that Trump made to justify sending people accused of belonging to the gang without due process to a notorious Salvadoran prison.
Letters on the subject from Mr. Kent, who is also Mr. Trump's nominee to head the National Counterterrorism Center, circulated in the intelligence community and were cited by people familiar with the contents of the correspondence. Kent's interference raised concerns within the department about the politicization of intelligence analysis.
Kent's defenders deny that his attempted interference was part of a pressure campaign, arguing that he was trying to show more of what the intelligence community knew about the gang.
But the disclosure of his letters confirms the accounts of critics who said that the official exerted political pressure to create and transmit to the president a distorted report that would support, not undermine, the political agenda of the Trump administration.
The problem lies in Trump's use in March of a rarely used wartime law, as well as the Foreign Enemies Act, to immediately deport people accused of belonging to the Venezuelan gang. After several planes loaded with such deportees, the courts have so far blocked any further use of the law.
The law, passed in 1798, allows the government to deport citizens of a country that is in a declared war with the United States or is otherwise invading U.S. territory. At first glance, it probably requires a connection to the actions of a foreign state, and Trump invoked such a connection in a proclamation on March 15.
Recall
The administration of US President Donald Trump plans to deport 1 million immigrants during the first year of his term. This was reported by American media with reference to sources among federal officials.