Exfuncionarios de inteligencia están exigiendo respuestas sobre un supuesto documento de la CIA que el presidente Donald Trump utilizó para respaldar sus afirmaciones de negación electoral. Según los funcionarios, el documento parece “weird” y “tailor made” para Trump, en lugar de haber sido producido mediante los procedimientos normales de la agencia. Según MSNOW, los funcionarios creen que el público debería saber cuándo y por qué fue escrito, y quién lo solicitó, preguntas que apuntan a cómo el material de inteligencia puede enmarcarse y presentarse en momentos políticamente delicados.

La disputa se centra en una nota de la CIA sobre la República Popular China titulada “Sensitive PRC Reporting from 2018 – 2020.” Como explicó MSNOW, “The date is redacted, and it is unclear where within the CIA it originated. Trump quoted directly from the three-page document in his speech when citing debunked claims that the intelligence community withheld information from him about China, and called on the Justice Department to ‘fire those involved in the cover-up’ and ‘file criminal charges if appropriate.’”

Sin embargo, exfuncionarios han expresado preocupación de que el documento consista en “raw intelligence all supporting a single view — alleging that China wanted Trump to lose the 2020 election and sought to influence the outcome — without including the full scope, context or any definitive conclusion from the agency’s information. The Trump administration, the officials said, should answer whether the document was drafted in response to a narrowly tailored request from someone within the administration, noting that to do so with the purpose of supporting Trump’s accusations about the security of America’s elections would be a clear politicization of the country’s intelligence community.”

Un legislador demócrata con supervisión de seguridad nacional dijo que hay muchas preguntas sobre el documento y que se enviará a la CIA una lista de ellas. Entre las preocupaciones, señaló, está que “the document does not show traditional accountability markers, such as authorship and footnotes, and the high degree of confidence expressed in the document is unusual.” Seis exfuncionarios de la CIA y de inteligencia coincidieron en que la CIA y la Casa Blanca deberían responder.

“the fact that the document presented only one viewpoint and appeared to be crafted in response to a narrow query should be investigated, the former officials said,” informó MSNOW. “The Steady State, a group of former national security and intelligence officials, is calling for an independent investigation by key congressional committees and the inspectors general for the intelligence community and CIA. Steven Cash, executive director of The Steady State and a former CIA and Department of Homeland Security official, is sending a letter Tuesday to top lawmakers on the intelligence committees and agency watchdog offices, detailing key ‘anomalies’ in the document.”

The Steady State concluyó que el documento “departs in both style and format” de las normas de redacción de la CIA y no contiene las advertencias que normalmente aparecen en el análisis de la agencia. Un exfuncionario lo calificó de “weird” y dijo que “doesn’t read like a finished product.” Según la exanalista de la CIA Julie Curlee, el documento parece haber sido generado recientemente y “tailor made.” Como explicó, “Released under CIA letterhead, but with its author and publication date redacted, it has all the hallmarks of a memo built to serve the president’s political needs and the intelligence community’s authority turned against the American public.”

“Was this done to placate Trump?” se preguntó otro exalto funcionario de inteligencia.