Newly declassified NSA emails are raising disturbing questions about whether politics infected America’s intelligence agencies — and whether Communist China benefited. According to documents released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, NSA analysts spent months trying to publish intelligence about Chinese efforts to target U.S. elections, only to see officials delay or block distribution.
One analyst wrote that the information had been held up for 16 months, while another account said the NSA deputy director feared releasing it during the Trump administration would damage the agency’s credibility and make it appear part of the so-called “deep state.”
The emails indicate the concern was not that the intelligence was false. Instead, officials worried about the political environment surrounding President Trump and his battles with the intelligence community. That should alarm every American citizen today.
Intelligence agencies exist to give presidents and lawmakers the unvarnished truth about foreign threats — not to filter intelligence based on Washington politics, reputational concerns, or fear of how elected leaders might react. And the chief beneficiary in this case was Beijing.
Their malignant behavior was shielded from the President because the NSA cared more about protecting their own prestige than doing the right thing. China acquired American voter data while U.S. officials failed to brief the president, Congress, and other policymakers. This is a scandal regardless of whether China’s interference changed the outcome of the 2020 election.
Critical intelligence about a hostile foreign power was suppressed inside agencies that Americans are supposed to trust to protect national security. The lesson here is unmistakable: when intelligence becomes politicized, national security suffers — and America’s enemies win.
This is just another reason why the intelligence community needs to be dismantled, and the bureaucracy replaced with an alternative that is leaner, more efficient, more effective and not held hostage to internal pressure.
