Dozens of US Central Command and Defense Intelligence Agency analysts allege that their superiors suppressed negative assessments of the war against Isis

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The investigative committee of the US House of Representatives has summoned Pentagon officials for a briefing about allegations of manipulated intelligence about the war against the Islamic State (Isis).

Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Ron DeSantis, who chairs its national-security subcommittee, asked the defense secretary, Ashton Carter, and inspector general, Jon Rymer, on Friday for information about an ongoing investigation into charges from dozens of US Central Command and Defense Intelligence Agency analysts that their superiors suppressed negative assessments of the year-old war against Isis.

In a sign of escalating congressional interest in an unfolding controversy, the GOP lawmakers requested briefings no later than 18 September.

“We are deeply concerned about these allegations and want to ensure that intelligence provided to key decision makers properly reflect the expert analysis provided by our Intelligence Community (IC) professionals,” wrote Chaffetz and DeSantis, a retired navy officer and Iraq veteran, in letters obtained by the Guardian.

The two asked Carter to provide “additional information” including “the nature of the allegations, and the Department’s procedures for how analyses and collection drive the final product reviewed by senior civilian and military leadership”.

Analysts within and attached to Central Command, which oversees the war in Syria and Iraq, say that the leadership of its intelligence wing, Army Major General Steven Grove and deputy Greg Ryckman, revise, suppress or reject their negative assessments of the war’s fortunes and Isis’s strengths.

The allegations have led to an investigation by the Pentagon inspector general.

Ex-officials told the Guardian that the command environment has grown “toxic,” particularly as Grove fields near-daily questioning from the top US intelligence official, James Clapper, who also provides what sources described as the “DC view” of the conflict.

Clapper’s interaction with a far more junior officer is considered troublesome and inappropriate within some intelligence and defense circles. Some consider Grove to be placed in an untenable position, between the analysts he commands and the ultimate chief of US intelligence.

Sources have told the Guardian that the alleged suppression began around October 2014, about two months after the air war began. Frustration is said to have intensified around March, although it is unclear when analysts took their dissatisfaction to the inspector general.

Army general Martin Dempsey, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Wednesday that the war was “tactically stalemated” but Isis’s future was “increasingly dim”.

The committee is said to be in the early stages of an investigation. The Daily Beast, which first reported that more than 50 analysts had alerted the inspector general to their complaints, reported that US senators on the armed services and intelligence committees were also investigating the allegations of manipulated intelligence.

In their letter, Chaffetz and DeSantis warned Carter and Rymer that they were “troubled” to learn that the acrimony within Central Command was causing some analysts to leave.

“Retaining our trained and experienced intelligence analysts is an important factor in maintaining a strong IC capable of preempting threats and furthering our national security objectives.”

• This story was corrected on 12 September 2015. It previously referred to Major General Steve Grove as a brigadier general.