Former US Official: The Khashoggi Report: A Misuse of Intelligence

Kirsten Fontenrose, who was in office at the time of the murder of Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi, described the recently released US intelligence assessment of the incident at the time as a “misuse of intelligence”, noting that the assessment intelligence lacked conclusive evidence.

In a report published by the US website The Tablet, a Bloomberg commentator, Ellie Lake, quoted Fontenrose, who worked in the White House and the Departments of Defense and State during the administrations of former Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama, his feeling of “severe anxiety” about the US intelligence report.

The former intelligence official said she had warned the CIA that if the assessment was included in reports submitted to the White House, it would attach it to a note warning the president that the assessment was based on “assumptions, assumptions and extrapolations.” and it would be used to push him to act in a specific direction. “

The evaluation of a page published by the US administration on the murder of Khashoggi was not based on any human source or documented physical evidence, but was based on some false assumptions and assumptions.

He indicated that the CIA “intentionally” prepared and distributed a less secret version of the report to publish conclusions that were not supported by the evidence it contained, in order to circumvent the White House’s refusal to publish it at the time. He said that distributing this copy “meant that all high-level national security advisers in Congress had access to the report.” He added: “They published it the day Congress returned to reunification, knowing that with the return of all the members from the recess, the report will cause an explosion.”

Lake viewed the story of the CIA’s handling of the Khashoggi assassination as a “moral game on the politicization of intelligence,” and explained that US intelligence leaders “violated his approach” in this issue “by presenting the assumption as certain “, driven by” the influence of the media that saw themselves in conflict. Being between good and bad with former President Donald Trump.

The former US official revealed that the declassified document, issued last month, used language very similar to the confidential report she prepared through her office in 2018. In her interview with the US journalist, she said: “The only part of the report promotes a high degree of confidence is the last paragraph. From “Intelligence Assessment”, which lists the names of those involved in the incident and does not include the name of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In September last year, the Saudi Arabian Prosecutor’s Office announced the closure of the case against common law by issuing final sentences against eight convicted persons, for a total of 124 years. And the Public Ministry spokesman announced, in a statement, at that time, that “final sentences have been handed down against those accused of the murder of citizen Jamal bin Ahmed bin Hamza Khashoggi (may God have mercy on him), stating that” the Riyadh Criminal Court handed down sentences against eight convicted persons and became final “according to article 210 of the Criminal Procedure Law”.