Pompeo Says CENTCOM Senior Leaders Manipulated Intelligence

Statement

Congressman Mike Pompeo (KS-04) commented on today's report from a congressional joint task force investigating allegations of intelligence manipulation at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) regarding the fight against ISIS. This report comes after a several months investigation by the task force, which was comprised of Congressman Pompeo, Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA).

"After months of investigation, this much is very clear: from the middle of 2014 to the middle of 2015, U.S. Central Command's most senior intelligence leaders manipulated the command's intelligence products to downplay the threat from ISIS in Iraq. The result: consumers of those intelligence products were provided a consistently "rosy' view of U.S. operational success against ISIS. That may well have resulted in putting American troops at risk as policymakers relied on this intelligence when formulating policy and allocating resources for the fight.

"The cultural breakdown in Central Command's intelligence process resulted from an administration-wide understanding that bad news from Iraq and Syria was not welcomed. Claims that ISIS was the "JV team' and that al-Qaeda was "on the run' were both a result--and a cause--of the politicization of intelligence at CENTCOM. This intelligence manipulation provided space for both ISIS and al-Qaeda to grow and it put America at risk.

"Intelligence products always contain some level of uncertainty. But during this period, nearly every error was in one direction: downplaying the threat from radical Islamic terror consistent with the administration's narrative that this threat was not significant. I urge the Department of Defense Inspector General to hold accountable the intelligence leaders that failed our service members fighting our wars on the ground."

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