Nine U.S. military commanders make rare joint call to expand declassified intelligence against China and Russia

U.S. intelligence chiefs say they are seeking to declassify and release more information on the malicious actions of Russia and the Chinese Communist Party after a rare and urgent appeal from nine four-star U.S. military commanders for assistance in the information war against the two countries.

Politico exclusively reported that nine U.S. military commanders signed a memo last year to Joseph Maguire, then acting director of national intelligence (DNI), imploring intelligence agencies to provide more publicly available evidence to counter “malicious acts” by China and Russia.

The memo was prepared by Adm. Philip Davidson, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and signed by Gen. Jay Raymond, then commander of U.S. Space Command, as well as the commanders of regional and special operations commands in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Raymond is currently a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander of the U.S. Space Force.

A number of government officials with knowledge of the memo said that nine of the 11 four-star U.S. Army combatant commanders signed it, and eight of them are active duty, which is almost unheard of and highlights the unusual level of vigilance among the U.S. military’s top brass. Only the commanders of U.S. Central Command and Cyber Warfare Command did not sign.

The commanders noted that the many worrisome actions by Russia and China, including attempts to undermine U.S. relations with allies and violate the sovereignty of other nations, mean that the intelligence community must do more to show the world the current misdeeds of Russia and China.