The Dog Ate my National Intelligence Estimate

[fastpat]

Bush'ist Necroponte stonewalls another document.

Intelligence Community to Congress: “The dog ate my national intelligence estimate”
Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2007. By Ken Silverstein.
Sources

Back in July, I reported that, in spite of pressure from CIA analysts, intelligence czar John Negroponte was blocking a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq. The CIA describes an NIE as “the most authoritative written judgment concerning a national security issue,” and a fresh one was badly needed because the last one on Iraq, which was compiled between 2004 and 2006 and leaked to the New York Times last September, had become outdated. Negroponte was said to fear that given the worsening situation in Iraq a new NIE would, of necessity, be deeply pessimistic, and that such an assessment might get leaked and embarrass the Bush Administration during last fall's elections.

Soon after that story was posted, six U.S. senators called for a new NIE on Iraq, and in August the Senate passed an amendment demanding that one be prepared. I've just learned that—months later and to the immense frustration of Congress—the new NIE is still not ready.

The situation came to a head last week, during a closed-door session of the Senate Armed Services Committee. This committee expected to be briefed on the long-awaited NIE by an official from the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which coordinates NIEs by gathering input from all of the nation's various intelligence agencies. But the NIC official turned up empty-handed and told the committee that the intelligence community hadn't been able to complete the NIE because it had been dealing with the many demands placed upon it by the Bush Administration to help prepare the new military strategy on Iraq. He then said that not all of the relevant agencies had contributed to the NIE, which has made it impossible to put together a finished product.

http://www.harpers.org/sb-intelligence-community-congress.html

[Jim Richards]

Cheney wasn't finished writing it for the CIA. Don't rush him, he'll get it done eventually.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Jim Richards
Cheney wasn't finished writing it for the CIA. Don't rush him, he'll get it done eventually.

Maybe Cheney's getting it proofread by his daughter.

[nota]

we know how bad it is in iraq
without the CIA to provide the disinfo and spin
just watch the news [even on fox!!!]

[dd74]

Tenet provided the spin. The CIA stated the complete opposite of what anyone heard.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by nota
we know how bad it is in iraq
without the CIA to provide the disinfo and spin
just watch the news [even on fox!!!]

The CIA has faults, Lord knows, but the invasion of Iraq wasn't based on their intelligence analysis, it was inspite of it.