CIA retracts 19 intel reports over bias concerns

The CIA has formally withdrawn or ordered revisions to 19 intelligence products after an internal and independent review found they did not meet the agency’s analytic standards and “failed to be independent of political consideration”, the agency has said. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, in an official release, said the products, produced over the past decade, “fall short of the high standards of impartiality that CIA must uphold and do not reflect the expertise for which our analysts are renowned”. The unusual move includes the retraction of 17 reports and the recall of two others for substantial revision, according to The Washington Post. The reports will be deleted from CIA databases and will no longer be available to US policymakers.
The products were identified by the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), which reviewed hundreds of CIA analytic reports from the past decade. An internal review led by Deputy Director Michael Ellis concurred with the findings.