Story highlights Donald Trump has called the Christopher Steele dossier "fake news" and "phony stuff," but is it?

Nick Dowling says the material may or may not be true, but we can't dismiss it lightly

Nick Dowling has worked with the intelligence community as a customer, producer, and policymaker for more than 20 years. He was director of European Affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House during the Clinton administration. He worked closely with former MI6 officials in private intelligence work. He is currently president and CEO of IDS International, which provides training, research, logistics, and cyber security work for the United States government. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Donald Trump has called the Christopher Steele dossier "fake news" and "phony stuff," but is it?

The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, sent a trusted staff member to London to obtain a copy and deliver it to the FBI for investigation, according to the UK newspaper The Independent.

The US intelligence community has made no determination as of yet on the contents, but has deemed the documents sufficiently credible to warrant further investigation and included a summary of the dossier in briefing materials for both President Obama and President-elect Trump. It is worth noting that these leaders are all career professionals, including two non-political appointees, FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers, who have zero incentive to pick a fight with their future boss.

The author, former British intelligence Russia expert Chris Steele, is a highly regarded and experienced professional known for his integrity and professionalism; not the kind of guy to invent stuff out of thin air. The Independent reported that Steele continued his reporting even after the election because he recognized how serious these charges were. He felt so threatened when the Wall Street Journal and other media released his name and the dossier that he vanished out of sight -- not something you need to do if it is not real intelligence with real sources.

What about the dossier itself -- does it seem credible? Why has the media been unable to verify its contents? Here are some observations from an experienced producer and consumer of intelligence:

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