Jim Himes, who takes over as House Intelligence Committee chairman in January, said investigations would focus partly on alleged retaliatory dismissals but gave no further details. (EPA Images pic)WASHINGTON: Democrats in the US House of Representatives, who will control key committees next year, are preparing investigations into what they say was President Donald Trump’s politicization and gutting of US spy agencies, including whether analysts have censored themselves to avoid retaliation.
“There's absolutely evidence that analysts are hesitant to write on topics that they think might be controversial. There's absolutely evidence of a decline in morale in the analytic community because of the pressures that they are under,” US Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat who will become chairman of the House intelligence committee in January, told Reuters on Tuesday.
