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 despite pressure from CIA analysts, intelligence czar John Negroponte was blocking a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)on Iraq. A fresh NIE—which the CIA describes as “the most authoritative written judgment concerning a national security issue”—was badly needed because the prior one, which was leaked to the New York Times, had been completed two years earlier and had grown out of date. Negroponte was said to fear that given the worsening situation in Iraq a new NIE would of necessity be deeply pessimistic, and, if it leaked before last November's midterm elections, could cause great embarrassment at a critical time for the Bush Administration.

In response to the story, 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, the new NIE is still not ready—to the immense frustration of Congress.

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 of 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 offered input into the NIE process, and thus it had proven impossible to put together a finished product.

Apparently these “dog ate my homework”-style alibis were badly received by both the Democrats and the Republicans on the committee, and those in attendance now believe that senior intelligence officials are stalling because an NIE will be very bleak—and thus a political liability. Given the Bush Administration's “surge” policy and the extraordinary danger faced by U.S. troops in Iraq (27 U.S. servicemembers died there this weekend), the new NIE was needed yesterday. The intelligence community is doing the nation a disservice by making Congress wait for the truth... http://tinyurl.com/2wejkp [Open in new window]

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