Six years ago today, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered by the Saudi Arabian government. The US government has since declassified some information on Khashoggi’s murder, including its judgment that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman approved the order to “capture or kill” Khashoggi.
But far too much remains hidden, and this secrecy both prevents accountability and serves to endanger other journalists.
This is unacceptable, especially while the Biden administration upholds a State Department determination that MBS has “sovereign immunity” for his role in the murder—at least while he is head of the Saudi government.
Declassifying more intelligence on Khashoggi’s murder would prioritize the public’s right to know about America’s relationship with an autocratic leader, and bolster expectations that the US won’t tolerate threats to its press.
Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist who was often critical of the Saudi regime, was murdered inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October 2018. The Saudi government initially denied any involvement in his killing, but eventually charged over a dozen Saudi citizens with Khashoggi’s death; their names were never released and many were later acquitted.
During his White House tenure, President Donald Trump refused to release the Director of National Intelligence’s assessment of Khashoggi’s murder and MBS’s involvement. In a statement Trump acknowledged the report, then suggested it might not be accurate and said that “we may never know all of the facts surrounding” Khashoggi’s murder. By placing a relationship with an authoritarian regime over press freedoms, this was a clear signal to other countries that Trump, who regularly derides and antagonizes the “mainstream” media, would let abuses of journalists slide.
The Biden administration indicated early on it would try to change course and release the DNI report, which synthesizes findings from across the intelligence community. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon, pressured Biden’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, to release the report during her 2021 confirmation hearing.
(At same time, the Public Interest Intelligence Board, which reports to the president on issues related to national security and declassification, advised both Biden and members of Congress that the DNI assessment should be declassified in its entirety.)
Haines told lawmakers that, if confirmed, she would do so. But she and the administration did not fully follow through on their word.
Yes, portions of the report were released—but with redactions. In response to criticism over these withholdings, a National Security Council spokesperson said they were minor and “concerned intelligence sources and methods or internal administrative matters.”
The redactions are worse than minor. They are also most likely unnecessary. Comparing the partially classified Khashoggi report, for example, with a fully unredacted intelligence assessment on a different topic (but that follows the same reporting format) reveals what is likely being withheld: the classification authority, classification level, and the date the document should be fully declassified on, among other details.
These details matter, because knowing the rationale for classification would allow the public to make a more effective counterargument for disclosure.
It makes no sense for the Biden administration to continue to withhold portions from the DNI report when it has already released the bulk of it. Full transparency is extremely important in a case where no serious pursuit of criminal charges or sanctions against a man who plotted a murder was brought to bear.
And President Biden should not stop with a full disclosure of the DNI report. He should declassify the underlying intelligence records that informed the DNI assessment, including the CIA’s report that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. This CIA document, and the evidence it is based on, likely details the steps taken—and methods employed—to reach this terrible end.
While MBS has claimed he bears “moral responsibility” for the murder as a world leader, he denies he knew about the plot in advance, much less that he ordered it. The CIA’s findings could be the most effective measure to counter this claim. While MBS will likely maintain his diplomatic immunity, the CIA report could and should force the US to strengthen protection of journalists, both at home and abroad.
The Knight First Amendment Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Open Society Justice Initiative have all filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits seeking to force the government to release this CIA document. Courts, however, continue to uphold the agency’s vague claim that doing so would damage national security.
This is a tenuous claim given that the publication of the DNI’s broader intelligence assessment has not caused any such harm. The CIA’s ongoing secrecy, meanwhile, actually threatens national security by raising concerns that America is—under Biden, as with Trump—throwing away democratic principles to keep authoritarian regimes close.
The safety of journalists like Khashoggi from attacks by such regimes is itself a matter of national security.
The lack of transparency and accountability surrounding Khashoggi’s murder puts other journalists from American outlets at risk.
The Biden administration should also declassify intelligence agency records on whether or not the US intelligence community met its obligation to warn Khashoggi his life was in danger. Here again, however, courts have upheld claims from multiple agencies asserting that even the acknowledgment they have such documentation would impact national security. This secrecy is wrong and misguided, and it prevents the public from knowing if (and if so, how) the intelligence community failed Khashoggi.
It is already six years too late, but there is no reason Biden shouldn’t embrace full transparency around Khashoggi’s murder before he leaves the White House. To fall short raises the gruesome possibility of a similar assassination occurring again.
Jamal Khashoggi’s legacy demands this not be the case.
