Schiff to the intel community: sharing information about Barr's attempts to declassify the documentation

Speaker of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff on Friday urged the country's intelligence community to report to Congress on the efforts of Attorney General William Barr to declassify national security secrets despite their objections.

Schiff made this request in a letter to the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, calling on Coats to personally inform his committee and provide him with any information requested by Barr as part of a review of the origins of the company. 39 FBI investigation on the links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Last month, Barr announced plans to review the rulings that led to the investigation of Russia, which was later taken up by the Robert Mueller Special Council. But Democrats argued that this effort was a political attempt to appease Trump and fuel his unsubstantiated claims that the FBI was attempting to organize a "coup d'etat" against him. .

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Earlier this month, Trump granted Barr wide power to declassify any material needed to conduct this review, provoking outrage from Democrats who claim that such an authority could undermine national security .

"This approach threatens national security by overturning long-standing rules and practices that compel, along with other officials in the information society, to protect sources and methods and to prevent the politicization of intelligence. and law enforcement, "wrote Schiff.

Schiff insisted that his committee carry out a "rigorous monitoring" of Barr's efforts and asked Coats to keep him informed of information requested by Barr or any other information that he may have transmitted to intelligence services at the time. subject of his examination. He also asked Coats to provide Congress with all documents shared with Barr and to warn legislators before any decision to declassify.

Schiff also asked Coats to identify Barr's specific actions to declassify anything that might dispel the objections of the intelligence community – and to inform Congress of the adverse consequences for national security.