Former GOP rep: Intelligence community too ‘politicized’

A former Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman accused the intelligence community of becoming too “politicized” under the Obama administration.

{mosads}During a radio interview with John Catsimatidis on Sunday, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) blamed the intelligence community for providing bad information that led to deteriorating situations in places like Libya and Syria.

“The intelligence community has not been providing us with very good intelligence over the last number of years, and too often it has been massaged to fit the political narrative that the political leaders want and not giving us just unadulterated facts,” he said. 

Hoekstra, who left Congress in 2010, slammed Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for describing the Muslim Brotherhood as “secular” and benign. He also said there has been bad intelligence about Syria and Libya, which has led to the U.S. mishandling interventions in those countries.

“You don’t want [intelligence] massaged to fit the narrative of whoever’s in political office or what the popular narrative is,” he said. “What I’ve seen or witnessed from outside of Congress now is an intelligence committee that is much more politicized.”