Top Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are raising concerns about reports that some allies and partner nations are curtailing intelligence sharing with the United States.
In a letter on Thursday to Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, the lawmakers asked about the scaling back of intelligence sharing by Britain, the Netherlands and Colombia.
Some of the curbs have been more symbolic than of practical import. Few countries would be willing to cut off information sharing with the United States, which produces more intelligence than any other allied country.
Nevertheless, limits on sharing intelligence about the Caribbean put in place by British military intelligence reflect the growing unease among allied and partner nations over the legality of the U.S. strikes on boats purportedly carrying drugs.
Since early September, the United States has killed at least 83 people in 21 strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs.
U.S. officials have conceded that the British have had good intelligence about drug traffic in the Caribbean, at times better than American information. But the officials said British intelligence had not been used for the strikes.
Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview that the loss of intelligence from Colombia could have real effects.
“When Colombia says, ‘We’re no longer going to cooperate with you on counternarcotics,’ that is a massive blow to the partnership, which has actually made real progress in reducing the flow of narcotics out of Colombia,” Mr. Himes said.
In the letter, Mr. Himes and Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, noted reports that Britain and Colombia had curbed intelligence sharing over the boat strikes. The lawmakers also discussed an announcement from Dutch officials that the Netherlands might also curb some intelligence sharing on Russia.
The letter said that intelligence sharing with allies was “a critical part of our national security.”
“To the extent that targeted killings of alleged drug traffickers or other policies reduce the willingness of our partners to work closely with our national security agencies, the United States will be less safe as a result,” the lawmakers wrote.
The United States, Mr. Himes noted, routinely limits intelligence sharing with partner nations in Asia, South America or Africa that are accused of human rights abuses or extrajudicial killing.
“The second we see something that smacks of extrajudicial killing, misuse of our aid, instantly, Congress is notified,” Mr. Himes said. “Very, very often we will shut down a partnership or shut down cooperation.”
But now, the United States finds itself in a similar situation, as allies question the propriety of its operations, he said.
The lawmakers are demanding that Ms. Gabbard brief them about intelligence sharing with allies and “the intelligence community’s plan to mitigate any damage.”
Officials from Ms. Gabbard’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawmakers said the concerns went beyond the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean. Senior Dutch intelligence officials said in an interview that in some instances they “don’t share things anymore,” including intelligence on Russia.
While most intelligence sharing between Britain and the United States remains unchanged, British military intelligence is no longer providing information that could be used to carry out the boat strikes in the Caribbean. That could be a signal that Britain is uncomfortable with those attacks, which legal experts have said are in violation of international law and amount to extrajudicial killings.
CNN earlier reported the British intelligence curbs, and The New York Times independently confirmed the limited restrictions.
After the reports about the British curbs, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia wrote on social media earlier this month that he was halting cooperation with American intelligence agencies and the military. The restriction would remain in place as long as the United States was conducting attacks on boats in the Caribbean, he said.
Mr. Himes noted that when Mr. Petro, a leftist, took office, he could have immediately curbed intelligence sharing with the United States. But he continued the partnership with the United States until the boat strikes began.
Mr. Himes said he believed that the boat strikes would have little long-term effect on slowing drug trafficking into the United States but that they had damaged an important partnership.
“Whatever you think of Petro, here’s a guy who put an awful lot of political capital on the line, but nonetheless maintained the partnership and the cooperation, which was essential, really essential,” Mr. Himes said. “But we just pushed him over the brink, and he said, ‘We’re shutting it all down.’ So here you have a purely performative effort torpedoing a powerful, powerful, effective partnership.”
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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