Four dead, dozens missing after ferry sinks off Bali    'Diddy' denied bail after being cleared of most serious charges    Indian state defends Zumba lessons for students amid protests    Number of Sakani platform users exceeds 4.6 million by first half of 2025    International visitors spend nearly SR50 billion in Saudi Arabia during 1Q 2025    Saudi Arabia and Indonesia call for immediate end to Gaza catastrophe Private sector companies sign pacts worth $27 billion during visit of President Prabowo    Prince Faisal and Marco Rubio discuss over phone regional situation    Saudi Arabia and Indonesia agree to bolster bilateral ties Crown Prince and President Subianto chair first meeting of Saudi-Indonesian Supreme Coordination Council    Saudi Arabia condemns calls for imposing Israeli sovereignty over occupied West Bank    Lacazette joins NEOM SC as Saudi Pro League newcomers boost attack with French star    Al Hilal sign Abderrazak Hamdallah on loan for Club World Cup push    Elm, One sign MoU to enhance strategic partnership and support local content in communications and marketing sector    Commerce Ministry recalls over 88,000 Anker portable chargers over fire risk    BTS are back: K-pop band confirm new album and tour    Saudi FM receives message from Iranian counterpart    Inzaghi hails 'historic' Al Hilal win over Man City: We climbed a mountain with no oxygen    Michelin Guide launches in Saudi Arabia with phased rollout in 2025    Al Hilal stun Manchester City in seven-goal thriller to reach Club World Cup quarterfinals    'How fragile we are': Roskilde Festival tragedy remembered 25 years on    Historic Jeddah's visual identity re-imagined through global art installations at Al-Arbaeen Lagoon    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



US reports ‘abuse of the intelligence community's power' New report on Khashoggi murder is worthless, former official warns
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 07 - 03 - 2021

The US intelligence assessment released by the US President Joe Biden Administration on the murder of late journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "an abuse of the intelligence community's power," Kirsten Fontenrose, who was serving as senior director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council at the time of Khashoggi's murder said.
Fontenrose was so concerned at the time that she warned the CIA that if the report was included in the president's daily intelligence briefing, she would attach a memo that warned him, "this is intelligence based on supposition and triangulation and being used to force your hand."
Fontenrose was not a political appointee, but rather a career civil service officer who worked for presidents of both parties in the Pentagon and the State Department. She left the National Security Council in late 2018 because she clashed with senior Trump White House officials.
Fontenrose told Eli Lake in Tablet that the declassified document released last month used very similar language to the classified report that crossed her desk in 2018. "The only piece of this that is high confidence is the last paragraph," she said, noting that this paragraph lists the names of the Saudi henchmen who were outed by Turkish intelligence at the time.
Phrases like "high confidence" are important to intelligence assessments because they convey how certain the analyst is of the conclusion.
Presuming that MBS, as the Crown Prince is often known, signed on in some way to the operation is very different than presenting proof that he personally ordered Khashoggi's murder. Nor does it seem reasonable to necessarily assume that the Saudis intended to murder a highly visible regime opponent inside their own consulate in Turkey — a country with which the Kingdom has had uneven relations. Rather, the Khashoggi killing has many hallmarks of an attempted kidnapping gone wrong.
This distinction matters a great deal to American foreign policy. Fontenrose told Lake that the 2018 assessment provided no "smoking gun" proof of the Crown Prince's role in a murder plot. "Without that smoking gun there is insufficient justification to trash the US-Saudi relationship when Bin Salman is going to lead that country for decades unless the US wants to get back into the business of regime change."
On Feb. 26, the Biden administration disclosed perhaps the worst-kept secret in Washington: The US intelligence community blames Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for ordering the operation that ended in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, writes Eli Lake in Tablet. — Agencies


Clic here to read the story from its source.