Something reprehensible happened this week during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s annual worldwide threats report. In addition to discussing threats to our country from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups, the report questioned the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said large protests in Israel demanding his resignation could drive him from power.
This finding caused an unnamed senior Israeli official—believed to be Netanyahu—to allege that the Biden administration is trying to overthrow the Netanyahu government. The Israeli official’s response was reasonable in light of growing tensions between Biden and Netanyahu over the Israel-Hamas War and Netanyahu’s refusal to give in to the Biden administration’s pressure to end the war early because this conflict is deeply unpopular with many of Mr. Biden’s supporters.
Following up on the intelligence report’s language, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday called on Israel to hold new elections and said Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace.
Such public criticism by a top U.S. politician of the leader of a close ally is inappropriate. But it is unacceptable for the U.S. Intelligence Community to do this.
One has to ask why criticism of Netanyahu and the prospects of him remaining in power would be part of an unclassified intelligence report on worldwide threats to the U.S. Shouldn’t such a report be devoted to the analysis of nations and groups that threaten our country?
This was politicization of intelligence, pure and simple, and followed a long tradition of Democratic administrations using intelligence agencies as proxies to promote their policies. By asserting that U.S. intelligence is strictly nonpartisan, expect White House officials to claim these findings are authoritative and nonpolitical.
Unfortunately, it has been well established—especially during the Trump Administration—that U.S. intelligence agencies are far from nonpolitical. From distorting analysis to undermine the Trump administration, to leaking intelligence to hurt Trump campaign and administration officials, to fabricating a false narrative of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia—which included spying on Trump campaign officials, no sensible person in this country believes the myth that U.S. intelligence agencies are nonpolitical and above politics.
And let’s not forget the October 2020 letter by 51 former intelligence officers that falsely claimed the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation—a letter that was cleared for publication by Intelligence Community officials.
This is not the first time that worldwide threat hearings have been politicized. For example, during a 2019 worldwide threat briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats questioned President Trump’s policies to counter the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and suggested that they would fail, positions consistent with the foreign policy establishment and government careerists. President Trump didn’t appreciate his intelligence chiefs publicly criticizing his top national security initiatives. As a result, Trump canceled open worldwide threat briefings for the remainder of his presidency.
Given how closely the report’s criticism of Netanyahu tracks with Biden Administration policy, I believe this language wasn’t just reviewed by National Security Council officials; it was drafted by them. In effect, this was an attempt by the Biden White House to dress up their criticism of Netanyahu as an intelligence assessment.
This is not the first instance of tawdry treatment of Israel by the Biden Administration. Every time Biden officials try to smear and undermine this close friend of America, they fritter away what is left of their credibility. This is why global instability is rising as U.S. deterrence fades away.
The worldwide threat report’s criticism of Netanyahu comes at a time when the U.S. Intelligence Community is still suffering from an erosion of trust because of its inappropriate political activities during the Trump administration. The report’s Netanyahu language makes this worse by blurring the line between intelligence analysis and political commentary.
For America’s intelligence agencies to do the job they were created to do and be taken seriously by presidents and U.S. officials, they must strictly stay out of U.S. politics. Their continuing refusal to do so could lead to painful reforms starting in January 2025.
Fred Fleitz is vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member.
A roundup of the top IC directors and managers–current, former and retired–for the past 20 years with invitation to an extended “interview” at an exclusive Caribbean retreat (Gitmo) would do wonders for stopping this behavior.
It’s a little late to suggest the IC agencies should stay out of politics to better do their jobs, they been the DRIVERS as long as I can remember. Does anyone think George W. knew a thing about “Yellow Cake” before the IC gave him bogus information on it? Or how about Saddam’s WMD’s?
The IC agencies drove us into invading two nations for what? To enrich the MIC? To increase their budgets? They lost my last shred of benefit of doubt twenty years ago and I’ve seen nothing to change my mind since.
Through leaks, disinformation, and innuendo, they hamstrung an entire presidency.
I grew up in a military family. From an early age I believed the Department of Defense, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the rest of the alphabet soup agencies were there to protect American public (first), the American interest (second), and the rest of the world (third), but learned all too sadly they are there to protect their own interests first, last and always.
I don’t want them to do their job better, I want them gone, disbanded, obliterated down to the last desk and file cabinet.
Donald Trump faces 91 felony indictments. The same DOJ that is intent on jailing Navarro on March 19 wants Trump convicted. They want more. They want him in prison. It is a coordinated attempt in multiple jurisdictions and cities. The judges, for the most part, are appointed by Democrats and they know exactly what they are doing. The people behind this do not believe in America. They believe in power and all of it concentrated within one party. When these people perform like Stalinist Marxists it is not by accident. It is because they are no different.
In America, and in Israel, there are ongoing internal battles which are more important than the wars in the Ukraine and in Gaza. Those wars are fueled by an anti-American and anti-Israel media. The Biden Administration wants an unopposed election and they also want Benjamin Netanyahu removed and imprisoned in order to achieve the same goals in both hemispheres.
If anyone thinks that the next election, which is mere months away, is going to be determined by democratically voting and not by multiple examples of outrageous injustices I suggest that they quickly become familiar with the French Revolution and then look at Haiti and prepare accordingly. Think about how you are going to preserve your liberty because there will be purges that will involve many of us. Our very lives will depend on how we collectively perform. As Ben Franklin made clear: “we must all hang together, or … we shall all hang separately.”
The Department of Justice is wrongly named. It should forever be known as the Department of Just-us.
I came across an old Tom Clancy paperback (Red Storm Rising) recently. I tried to remember the time when I actually believed our “intelligence” agencies, as portrayed in Clancy’s novels were a force for good. What a naive young man I was. Even if Trump were to somehow overcome the cheating that we all know is coming, how will he overcome the bureaucracy that thinks nothing of sending young men off to fight and die for MIC profits. The fact that McConnell is being allowed to continue in leadership until after the election in November tells me the GOP is on the alphabet agencies war on all of us. I try to remain positive, but these national death throes are never ending.