Washington: The US Central Intelligence Agency announced that Director John Ratcliffe has mandated the retraction or significant revision of 19 intelligence assessments produced over the last decade due to political bias concerns. The assessments were identified as falling short of the CIA’s standards for impartiality and failing to accurately reflect the agency’s analytic expertise.

According to Anadolu Agency, the flagged assessments were identified by the US President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during an independent review of intelligence reports from the past ten years. These reports were found not to meet CIA and intelligence community analytic tradecraft standards and were influenced by political considerations.

The CIA provided three redacted examples of such assessments, which included reports on women involved in racially motivated violent extremism, pressures faced by LGBT activists in the Middle East and North Africa, and COVID-19-related contraceptive shortages in developing countries.

According to The New York Times, which cited a senior administration official, many of the other flagged reports focused on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Former officials have questioned both the decision to declassify these documents and the assertion that the assessments were flawed.