Written testimony submitted to Congress claims intelligence officials monitored interviews, obstructed declassification efforts, and retaliated against members of a task force operating under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A CIA officer assigned to a task force under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has alleged that intelligence officials monitored the group’s activities, obstructed oversight efforts, and retaliated against team members as they investigated classified matters involving COVID-19 origins, intelligence abuses, and declassification requests.
The allegations were made by CIA officer Jim Erdman in written testimony submitted to Sen. Rand Paul’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and publicly released Thursday.
Letter and Testimomy by yourNEWS Media
According to the testimony, Erdman served on Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group, or DIG, a task force created to review intelligence community conduct and oversee declassification efforts involving high-profile national security matters.
The DIG’s work reportedly included efforts to examine intelligence assessments tied to COVID-19 origins, claims of Russian collusion involving President Donald Trump, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, MKUltra records, and anomalous health incidents commonly referred to as “Havana syndrome.”
A statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence previously referenced the task force’s activities.
Erdman alleged that CIA personnel “constantly” monitored the team’s work and interfered with its oversight responsibilities despite the group operating under authority delegated by the director of national intelligence.
“I am testifying here today because, in my year with DIG, the CIA obstructed lawful oversight related to the DIG’s work and retaliated against the DIG with what I believe were illegal investigations into DIG members,” Erdman wrote.
The testimony stated that CIA officials withheld documents slated for declassification, restricted access to classified information, and allegedly failed to provide requested materials directly to Gabbard herself.
Erdman also alleged that individuals outside the task force listened to interviews and monitored communications during sensitive investigations.
“Individuals involved in our AHI investigation discovered third parties were listening into secure phone calls at Intelligence Community facilities,” Erdman wrote. “In one instance, it was during a conversation with a whistleblower.”
According to the testimony, an information technology specialist later confirmed that the alleged surveillance would have required a deliberate technical modification.
Erdman stated that concerns escalated after a CIA contractor interviewed by the task force was terminated the following day.
Carol Thompson, an attorney representing Erdman and another unnamed intelligence community employee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that members of the DIG frequently encountered resistance from the very agencies they had been tasked with reviewing.
The testimony also alleged retaliation tied to declassification efforts involving records connected to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the CIA’s MKUltra program, a Cold War-era series of psychological and behavioral experiments conducted by the agency.
Erdman further testified before the Senate Wednesday regarding what he described as long-running intelligence community suppression of evidence supporting the theory that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak.
He alleged that scientists tied to Anthony Fauci and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases received preferential treatment within intelligence assessments while internal biological weapons experts favoring the lab-leak theory were marginalized.
CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons publicly criticized the hearing following Erdman’s appearance.
“The Committee acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously,” Lyons said in a statement.
“The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul,” she added.
Lyons also stated, “This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing.”
The CIA spokesperson further noted that the agency has already assessed that COVID-19 “most likely originated from a lab leak.”
Erdman’s testimony additionally connected intelligence community secrecy to the expansion of the U.S. biodefense establishment following the 2001 anthrax attacks and concerns surrounding biological weapons programs after Sept. 11.
He stated that the federal government significantly increased biodefense funding through Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases while also creating a Biological Sciences Experts Group to advise intelligence agencies on biological threats.
According to Erdman, some scientists connected to the advisory structure maintained relationships with Chinese researchers that presented potential counterintelligence risks.
The Daily Caller previously reported that University of North Carolina virologist Ralph Baric, known for coronavirus research collaborations involving Wuhan scientists, had been associated with the Biological Sciences Experts Group.
Science magazine reported earlier this month that Baric recently retired from the University of North Carolina.
“This is a national security crisis caused by the inability to provide real oversight,” Erdman testified Wednesday. “CIA did not comply with lawful oversight during the DIG’s investigation.”
“These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the director of national intelligence,” he added.
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