House Republican leaders said a recent report found numerous problems within Central Command (CENTCOM) and a widespread perception that senior intelligence leaders distorted intelligence to frame a more positive view of U.S. efforts to fight ISIL.
U.S. Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Devin Nunes (R-CA), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Ken Calvert (R-CA), a leader of the Joint Task Force, reacted to the release on Wednesday of the Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) report.
“The IG was ‘struck by the inadequate efforts’ by CENTCOM leadership to address these issues, and also found several important procedural shortcomings and a challenging command climate that hindered many analysts’ work,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “The Inspector General’s findings echo many of the findings of the Joint Task Force we empaneled last year to examine these issues. Although the two inquiries were conducted independently, they involved interviews of many of the same individuals and reviewed some of the same material.”
The lawmakers commended whistleblowers for coming forward, and noted that IG and Joint Task Force investigations were a “direct result of their complaints and should signal to employees throughout the intelligence community that appropriate and responsive mechanisms exist to bring concerns forward.”
The lawmakers said the committees will carefully consider the 29 recommendations from the Inspector General.
“Our committees will monitor and assess their implementation, and we look forward to hearing from analysts within CENTCOM and other Combatant Commands to ensure these issues get resolved quickly. Furthermore, the committees take whistleblower protections seriously and will closely monitor this situation to ensure whistleblowers are not subject to any retaliation.”