“WAGING THE TRUTH”: Politico reported this week that last year, nine active duty U.S. four-star officers wrote to the then acting Director of National Intelligence asking that the IC declassify more intelligence to “clarify truth, counter distortions, puncture false narratives, and influence events in time to make a difference.” Excessive secrecy, they argued, was putting the U.S. and its allies at a disadvantage in working against foes like Russia and China. The memo, which was unclassified but marked “For Official Use Only,” was reportedly signed by nine of the 11 four-star combatant commanders on active duty at the time. Only the four-stars atop the U.S. Central Command and Cyber Command elected not to sign. Which makes one wonder: why were they the outliers?
EYIN’ MALIGN: We are not sure if this item relates to the previous one or not – but this week, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced that it will establish a new center to track foreign efforts to wage disinformation and influence campaigns in the U.S. The outfit they plan to call the “Foreign Malign Influence Center” is intended to coordinate and integrate intelligence pertaining to malign influence. By the way – when did the word “malign” become so trendy? It is one of those words that you would never have found in a press release – or Center title ten years ago.
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