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Senate Review Panel to Release Critical Report on Prewar Iraq Intelligence This Week
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is set to release a report this week criticizing the CIA for failing to collect adequate information on Iraq’s alleged prewar WMD efforts and faulting intelligence analysts for preparing poor reports on the information they possessed, according to the New York Times (see GSN, July 2). The Senate committee found that there were instances when CIA analysts distorted information to improve their case that prewar Iraq was engaged in WMD programs, according to U.S. officials. The committee also determined, though, that the analysts did not alter their reports due to pressure from the White House, according to officials familiar with the report. The committee’s report is expected to be strongly critical of CIA Director George Tenet — who is set to formally resign later this month — as well as other senior agency officials, including Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin, who will serve as acting director once Tenet leaves, the Times reported. The committee’s report also reveals the existence of a prewar CIA program to debrief relatives of Iraqi WMD scientists, according to the Times. While the relatives told the agency that Iraq had abandoned its WMD efforts, it did not include that information in intelligence reports distributed throughout the government, according to U.S. officials. A CIA spokesman said that the relatives’ statements were “not at all convincing.” “There was nothing definitive about it,” the spokesman said. “No useful information was collected from the family members, and that’s why it wouldn't have been disseminated,” the spokesman added (James Risen, New York Times, July 6).
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