Lawmakers take Pompeo to task over arms control report

The chairmen of the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees have sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising concerns over what they call the abuse of classification and politicization of intelligence regarding Iran and other countries in the State Department's latest arms control report.

"We are deeply concerned by recent reporting that the 2019 State Department Report on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments, which the State Department submitted to Congress on April 15, may have been the product of political appointees disregarding intelligence or distorting its meaning in order to potentially 'lay the groundwork to justify military action' against countries mentioned in the report," Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY) state in the May 16 letter.

On April 15, the State Department issued its annual report assessing the United States' and other nations' adherence to a range of arms control and nonproliferation treaties. The lawmakers assert that this year's report disproportionately focused on Iran to the exclusion of other countries with serious proliferation concerns, including Russia and North Korea.

The lawmakers' letter raises concerns that the report provides significantly less unclassified information, that the administration selectively ignores facts or injects non-factual information, and that the administration has failed to file a key report to congress about Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal. Consequently, the lawmakers request an immediate briefing and documents related to the preparation of the report be provided to the committees.