DHS Attempts To Manipulate Intelligence Assessments On Russia's Meddling With November US Elections Exposed

A former Homeland Security deputy undersecretary for intelligence reveled on Wednesday that acting U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf had asked him to halt assessments of Russia’s alleged meddling with the November elections and to downplay U.S. white supremacist activity, saying such issues would “make the president look bad.”

The whistleblower, Brian Murphy, said Wolf ordered him sometime in mid-May to stop providing assessments of the threat of Russian interference in the upcoming elections and focus instead on the threats posed by China and Iran.

Previous intelligence assessments of Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the 2016 election in Donald Trump’s favor was met with condemnation. However, Trump dismissed the assessments as hoax and even praised Russian President Vladimir Putin when he denied interfering with the U.S. elections.

Murphy also claimed that Wolf had asked him to emphasize the involvement of left-wing groups in the chaos happening in the U.S., as ordered by White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien. He said Wolf and other senior DHS officials had instructed him to manipulate the intelligence assessments on white supremacist activity by making sure they were consistent with Donald Trump’s claims that the majority of suspected terrorists in the country were emerging from Mexico.

However, the whistleblower said he rejected the orders thinking that doing so would only put the U.S. in danger. Believing it would be “improper administration of an intelligence program,” he refused to manipulate the intelligence and even warned one of the officials, saying following Wolf’s orders would be tantamount to felony.

Murphy also claimed that when he declined to comply with Wolf’s order, Wolf made strides to exclude him from relevant future meetings tackling Russian disinformation efforts. On Tuesday, he filed a complaint with the DHS Office of Inspector General, outlining other allegations of misconduct by White House officials.

Meanwhile, both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security denied Murphy’s claims, saying O’Brien has never meddled with the operations of the Intelligence Community.

“Ambassador O’Brien has never sought to dictate the Intelligence Community’s focus on threats to the integrity of our elections or on any other topic,” said White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. “Any contrary suggestion by a disgruntled former employee, who he has never met or heard of, is false and defamatory.”