A group of retired intelligence officials have release a memorandum: “Obama Should Release Ukraine Evidence,” which states: “As veteran intelligence analysts accustomed to waiting, except in emergency circumstances, for conclusive information before rushing to judgment, we believe that the charges against Russia should be rooted in solid, far more convincing evidence. And that goes in spades with respect to inflammatory incidents like the shoot-down of an airliner. We are also troubled by the amateurish manner in which fuzzy and flimsy evidence has been served up — some of it via ‘social media.’
“As intelligence professionals we are embarrassed by the unprofessional use of partial intelligence information. As Americans, we find ourselves hoping that, if you indeed have more conclusive evidence, you will find a way to make it public without further delay. In charging Russia with being directly or indirectly responsible, Secretary of State John Kerry has been particularly definitive. Not so the evidence. His statements seem premature and bear earmarks of an attempt to ‘poison the jury pool.'” See the full letter at Consortium News.
The following signers, who are members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, are available for interviews:
COLEEN ROWLEY, rowleyclan at earthlink.net, @ColeenRowley
Rowley is a former FBI special agent and division counsel whose May 2002 memo described some of the FBI’s pre-9/11 failures and was named one of Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002.
RAY MCGOVERN, rrmcgovern at gmail.com
McGovern, who may not be available for interviews until Thursday, is a former CIA analyst whose responsibilities included chairing National Intelligence Estimates. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Other signers of the memorandum include William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.); Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.); Edward Loomis, NSA, Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.); David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.); Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.); Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.); and Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned).
