In December 2018, when Brian Murphy was the top intelligence official at the Department of Homeland Security, then-secretary Kirstjen Nielson pressured him and a colleague to falsify a report by puffing up literal fake news about the prospect of terrorist threats at the US border with Mexico.
Murphy complained twice to the DHS's Inspector General, but got no response. Murphy resisted faking the threat, and studiously corrected errors in in-house documents.
One year later, DHS anti-immigration honcho Ken Cuccinelli took a dislike to intelligence reports for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. He wanted more about corruption, violence and poverty to support Trump policies. Cuccinelli even demanded the names of the "deep state" analysts who, Cuccinelli said, were trying to undermine POTUS' goals. Cuccinelli wanted the analysts demoted or reassigned.
Recently, things got worse. Murphy's department produced a draft of an intelligence report, a Homeland Threat Assessment, in March 2020. It was missing two sections: the threat of white supremacists, and the threat of Russian interference. Murphy wasn't expecting that.
It turned out that Acting Secretary Chad Wolf and Cuccinelli had gone to one of Murphy's colleagues and told him not to circulate that draft because of how the two sections "would reflect upon President Trump.” Surprise!
Cuccinelli then told Murphy to modify the white-supremacy section to make the threat look less severe and to include violent left-wing groups. Presumably he could then reinstate that section. Murphy refused. The report has not been finalized.
In May 2020, Wolf told Murphy to "cease providing intelligence assessments" about Russian interference and instead to focus on interference from China and Iran. The instructions, Murphy wrote, came from the White House, specifically National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.
A former Marine and FBI agent, Murphy continued to resist demands to misrepresent intelligence reports. Sometime this year, he was demoted.
Murphy blew the whistle. It's not clear where Murphy filed his 24-page complaint, but on Wednesday, September 9, House intelligence committee chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) released the document and asked Murphy to testify privately on September 21st.
Going up against Trump's administration is a dangerous bet. We'll see if Murphy is lionized like Alexander Vindman -- and, like him, forced to retire, or whether he's nimble enough to escape further retaliation.
What do you think about this situation? Will this new set of outrages make a difference in the election? Do you think it will be covered in right-wing media, so that it reaches Trump supporters?
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