Spy agencies pulled 2020 vote study after internal dissent

By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A team of CIA experts that studied lessons learned from the 2020 election had to unexpectedly withdraw its study after getting pushback from rank-and-file intelligence officers. The dispute over a relatively routine study and its unusual withdrawal highlight ongoing tension over how to address the varying foreign threats to U.S. elections. Some former intelligence officers say that in an increasingly polarized nation, some of those tensions have spilled over inside the nominally apolitical world of intelligence. The study remains classified. Several people familiar with the matter say it included recommendations on how intelligence leaders could best examine and report election threats attributed to Russia, China and other U.S. adversaries.