Strong reason to believe memo produced by DNI Ratcliffe's office skews intelligence on Russianbounty

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted

This is important. You should read this.

Strong reasons to believe a memo produced by DNI Ratcliffe's office skews the intelligence on the #Russianbounty operation to serve the White House's political interests.

@NicholasRasmu15
and I dissect the memo as reported by the NYTimes.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[BigMin28]

1. Ratcliffe is a Texas republican

Never trust what a republican says. Even more so when said republican is a Texas republican. I know, I live in Texas.

[highplainsdem]

2. I'd never expect anything honest from Ratcliffe.

Trump chose him because he expects him to be a loyal, frightened flunky without a shred of ethics or backbone.

[Mike 03]

3. First two paragraphs of the article:

Over the July 4 weekend, the New York Times reported that Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe has produced a memorandum that, on the one hand, acknowledges the assessment by the CIA and National Counterterrorism Center that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill American service members but, on the other hand, may seek to cast doubt on this assessment to serve the White House’s political purposes. According to the Times, concerns about politics infecting the process stem from the timing and the reported content of the three-page Sense of the Community Memorandum (SOCM), a product of the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which reports directly to the DNI. The Times also quotes former intelligence officials who express concerns about the potential politics at play. One of those former officials served as chair of the NIC, and another was the predecessor to one of us as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Based on what has been reported by the Times and other outlets, we share their concerns.

That’s a painful conclusion to put forward as it would mean the country’s top intelligence official is manipulating intelligence processes for political purposes in the context of a direct threat to American service members’ lives. That we even have to ask the question of whether this intelligence is being politicized is a measure of how far from normal business we have strayed in recent years.

[Mike 03]

4. Nausea alert:

And that narrative would basically be a form of propaganda that would make Soviets blush.

[stillcool]

5. more and more of the same...

Republican sycophant inserted into top position at a federal agency, covers Donald's ass.

[2naSalit]

6. K&R