Three names mysteriously removed from Khashoggi intelligence report after initial publication
Shortly after the US intelligence community published its long-awaited report on Friday afternoon on the Saudis who were responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, it was taken down without explanation and replaced with another version that removed the names of three men it had initially said were complicit.
The quiet switch by the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence went largely unnoticed as the outcry grew that the Biden
administration was failing to punish the prince in any way, despite having just
declared in no uncertain terms that MBS was responsible.
The first link to the report that was sent out by ODNI went
dead. It was then replaced with a second version that removed three of the men
it had just announced "participated in, ordered, or were otherwise
complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined
to clarify why the names were originally on the list and what roles, if any,
they may have had in Khashoggi's killing.
"We put a revised document on the website because the
original one erroneously contained three names which should not have been
included," an ODNI spokesperson told CNN.
A senior administration official had argued on Friday
afternoon before the change was noticed that the report contained no new
information.
"This [is] information that has been known to the U.S.
government and briefed to select committees and members of Congress over one
year ago," the official said.
Yet three of the names that ODNI had first listed had not
previously been mentioned in reports about Khashoggi's death.
The White House referred requests for comment to the ODNI.
Biden had said during the presidential campaign he would
make Saudi Arabia "the pariah that they are."
"Historically, and even in recent history-- democratic
and republican administrations-- there have not been sanctions put in place for
the leaders of foreign governments s where we have diplomatic relations and
even where we don't have diplomatic relations," White House press
secretary Jen Psaki told CNN on Sunday. "We believe there is more
effective ways to make sure this doesn't happen again."
The first of the three names removed is Abdulla Mohammed
Alhoeriny, who has not been previously connected with Khashoggi's death.
According to a person familiar with the inner workings of
Saudi intelligence, he's the brother of General Abdulaziz bin Mohammed
al-Howraini, a minister who is in charge of the powerful Presidency of State
Security which oversees multiple intelligence and counterterrorism agencies.
Abdulla (as it's spelled by ODNI) appears in Saudi reports as the assistant
chief of state security for counterterrorism.
The two other names that appeared in the unclassified
intelligence report and then disappeared are Yasir Khalid Alsalem and Ibrahim
al-Salim. It was not immediately clear who they are.
The three men are not among the 18 who have been sanctioned
by the US for Khashoggi's murder. Those 18 were listed in the revised
intelligence report, whose file name on the ODNI website includes
"v2," clearly indicating it's the second version.
The initial intelligence report appears to have been online
for several hours before ODNI took it down, according to the Wayback Machine
internet archive. The discrepancy between the two lists of names was noticed on
Capitol Hill and clarification has been asked of ODNI, a House Intelligence
Committee official said. A spokesperson for the Senate Intelligence Committee
declined to comment.
The report, which was declassified by Director of National
Intelligence Avril Haines, assessed that the Crown Prince, known as MBS,
approved the operation in Istanbul to "capture or kill" Khashoggi.
The report concludes with a list of names -- first 21, then
18 when it was revised -- who US intelligence has "high confidence"
were involved in the grisly murder but does not assess whether they knew that
the operation would lead to his death.
Seventeen Saudis had already been sanctioned for the murder
by the US Treasury Department. An eighteenth, a former senior intelligence
official, was added Friday. The force that serves as the protective detail for
MBS, known as the "Tiger Squad," was also sanctioned.
The State Department also announced 76 unnamed Saudis would
be barred from the United States under a "Khashoggi Ban."
The Saudi government immediately responded to Friday's
report and criticized its conclusions.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the
negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the
Kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate
information and conclusions," a statement read.
Biden said over the weekend that more announcements
regarding Saudi Arabi would be coming Monday. The White House clarified his
comments, saying the State Department would provide more details about the
announcements already made.
"The recalibration of relations with Saudi Arabia began
on January 20th and it's ongoing. The Administration took a wide range of new
actions on Friday," a White House official said. "The President is
referring to the fact that on Monday, the State Department will provide more
details and elaborate on those announcements, not new announcements."
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