US Senator Calls for Russian Bounties Intelligence to be Declassified

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_US Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Monday called for the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to reports that the Kremlin offered bounties to Taliban forces for targeting #U.S._troops in Afghanistan, the Hill reported.

“While any intelligence assessment on this matter is understandably sensitive, the American public, and Gold Star Families in particular, have a pressing need to know if there is any truth to these claims,” Duckworth wrote in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines first obtained by Politico.

“I believe such a finding may be presented while protecting classified information.”

The intelligence, first reported last year, was dismissed as a “hoax” by then-President Trump. Last September, Gen. Frank #McKenzie, who oversees U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said the military was still investigating, adding that the report “has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me.”

Haines has been tasked with reviewing intelligence on recent Russian activity, including the #alleged_bounty initiative.

In her letter, Duckworth asked for Haines to publish an unclassified report to “provide urgently needed transparency on this grave matter.”
Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs in Iraq, was one of the leading voices calling for action in response to the report last year. In July, she led a letter from Senate Democrats asking to see the then-president’s intelligence briefings relating to the alleged bounties.