The United States Office of the Directorate of National Intelligence submitted to Congress an Intelligence Community assessment regarding the Saudi Government’s role in killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The declassified report says the “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” It said:
We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi. Since 2017, the Crown Prince has had absolute control of the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorisation.
According to the U.S. Intelligence assessment, the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman “fostered an environment in which the aides were afraid that failure to complete assigned tasks might result in firing or arresting them. This suggests that the aides were unlikely to question Muhammad bin Salman’s orders or undertake sensitive actions without his consent.”
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