WASHINGTON – A former CIA analyst who led President Biden’s personal briefings during the government’s opening days is no longer doing so, intelligence officials said on Saturday.
The duties of the short-lived usually included the coordination of work in 18 intelligence agencies, in the so-called mission integration, and overseeing the compilation of the written intelligence document delivered to the White House every day. In a move from previous administrations, the task of leading the personal information session will differ from the other responsibilities and be divided among different people.
Veteran analyst Morgan Muir is still planning to take over as director of mission integration, a leading position in the office of the director of national intelligence, succeeding Beth Sanner, who is the president of Donald J. Trump was. As director of mission integration, Mr. Muir compiled what is known as the President’s Daily Letter, or PDB, from various reports from across the intelligence community, but he will no longer lead the personal information sessions.
In his new role, Mr. Muir oversees the agency’s efforts to integrate the intelligence community’s activities “from collection to analysis, including the PDB process for interagency,” said Amanda J. Schoch, spokeswoman for the office of the director of national intelligence.
The appointment of mr. Muir as Mr Biden’s short head last month was unusual because it was his second tour in the job, the only time anyone had returned to the post under a new administration. He served as one of George W. Bush’s commissioners during his presidency.
Former presidents also still receive briefings, although this is different from the classified one that a sitting president receives daily. Nevertheless, it is provided in part as a courtesy and in part for the cases in which a sitting president seeks advice. The team of CIA analysts that would inform a former president is not the same team that would inform a current president.
The question of whether Mr. Trump must continue to get information sessions have been raised in recent days. On Friday, Mr. Biden told CBS that the former president does not have a need to receive briefings, citing his “erratic” behavior. But a day later, the White House elucidated these comments.
“The president has expressed concern about former President Trump gaining access to sensitive intelligence,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement, “but he also trusts his own intelligence team to stick around. state how to provide information if former President Trump at some point requests an information session. ”
On Saturday night, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment explaining whether Trump had asked for briefings.
The New York Times previously reported that Muir would become the headquarters, but at the time, intelligence officials said the director of national intelligence, Avril D. Haines, was still determining the final format of the briefings and that the additional briefings would be with Mr. Pray for work. Officials at the time also said there was no final decision on whether to divulge the information of the director of mission integration.
Some officials in the office of the director of national intelligence have long insisted on delegating these tasks to different people.
But over the past few days, Ms. Haines decided to bring in a series of expert assignments to lead the sessions in the Oval Office, Schoch said. Me. Haines still attends the meetings.
BuzzFeed News reported on Saturday that Muir, then a senior CIA analyst, led a agency delegation in 2013 in strained talks with Senate Intelligence Committee staff to compile the report on the agency’s torture program. The article quotes Daniel J. Jones, one of the then chief committee members, as saying that Muir defended the value of the CIA’s torture program in private conversations with Senate assistants.
In a statement, Mr. Jones said that Mr. Muir provided “truly false information” to the committee that year. The CIA later admitted that Muir’s statements were incorrect.
“One would hope that this type of professional failure would at least disqualify him for future leadership positions,” he said. Jones said.
The Senate report issued in 2014, a comprehensive indictment of the CIA, set out the agency’s abuse and torture in the investigation into terrorist suspects in the years after September 11, 2001, attacks and a pattern of misleading Congress and the White House about it. .
While the report remains a sore point among many former senior agency officials, who disagree with its conclusions and characterization, a number of senators have expressed their frustration that some top officials are still questioning the report.
Following the publication of the BuzzFeed article, two intelligence officials insisted that the criticism of Mr. Muir’s interaction with the Senate committee has nothing to do with the decision to change the way Biden is informed.
Me. Schoch said Haines remains “confident in Morgan’s solid leadership”. “
“Morgan Muir is a highly respected intelligence officer who has demonstrated the highest standards of integrity and professionalism throughout his career,” Schoch said.
Katie Rogers contribution made.