FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 1998
INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN RICHARD SHELBY COMMENTS ON THE JEREMIAH REPORT
Report Assesses U. S. Intelligence Failure
To Anticipate India Nuclear Tests
WASHINGTON, D. C. --- U. S. Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement in response to a report compiled by Admiral Jeremiah at the request of CIA Director George Tenet. The report details the Intelligence Community's failure to anticipate India's testing of nuclear weapons. Although classified, the tone and general content of the report have been released.
Sen. Shelby said, "Admiral Jeremiah has issued a tough but fair critique of the Intelligence Community's failure to anticipate India's nuclear tests -- a failure that I have categorized as colossal because the Community missed something of such significance, something that has led to a new nuclear arms race in South Asia.
Admiral Jeremiah is to be commended for providing an unvarnished assessment of the numerous problems associated with properly assessing events in India, and has pointed to these problems as "manifestations of broad strategic shortcomings" in the Intelligence Community.
Overall, the report cites a disturbing pattern of complacency and poor performance within the analytical, collection, training and manning, and senior management elements of the Intelligence Community. Admiral Jeremiah's assertion that these shortfalls are "chronic"— that is, that they extend well beyond the immediate question of India's nuclear testing — raises serious questions about the ability of the Intelligence Community to perform its vital mission.
The report highlights numerous problems — ranging from analytical biases and shortfalls to inadequate human and signals intelligence (HUMINT and SIGINT) collection capabilities — that led to this particular failure. At least some of these problems can be attributed to the significant decline in intelligence resources — both in terms of funding and personnel — since the end of the Cold War.
But Admiral Jeremiah also emphasized a more fundamental problem confronting the Intelligence Community — namely, the lack of clear lines of responsibility and the absence of senior managers below the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) with the authority to coordinate collection and analysis across the entire Intelligence Community and to monitor its performance. These are the same themes the Intelligence Committee has emphasized with the DCI year-after-year, and most recently in the confirmation hearing with the new Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community Management.
This report should serve as a "wake-up call" for Mr. Tenet and all senior managers within the Intelligence Community. America's policy makers and military commanders — indeed, America's taxpayers — can and should expect more from its intelligence agencies. I look forward to working with Mr. Tenet to remedy the problems identified by Admiral Jeremiah, and the Intelligence Committee will carefully consider his findings and recommendations as it continues action on S. 2052, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 and other legislative and oversight activities."
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