CHAIRMAN ROBERTS AND VICE CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER
ISSUE STATEMENT ON INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE'S REVIEW
OF PRE WAR INTELLIGENCE IN IRAQ
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman, and Senator Jay Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Vice Chairman, of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today announced that the Committee unanimously agreed to refine the terms of reference of the Committee's ongoing inquiry into pre war intelligence with regard to Iraq. The new terms are as follows:
A. The matters set forth in the joint release of the Chairman and Vice Chairman on June 20, 2003:
1. the quantity and quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs, ties to terrorist groups, Saddam Hussein's threat to stability and security in the region, and his repression of his own people;
2. the objectivity, reasonableness, independence, and accuracy of the judgments reached by the Intelligence Community;
3. whether those judgments were properly disseminated to policy makers in the Executive Branch and Congress;
4. whether any influence was brought to bear on anyone to shape their analysis to support policy objectives; and
5. other issues we mutually identify in the course of the Committee's review;
B. the collection of intelligence on Iraq from the end of the Gulf War to the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom;
C. whether public statements and reports and testimony regarding Iraq by U.S. Government officials made between the Gulf War period and the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom were substantiated by intelligence information;
D. the postwar findings about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and weapons programs and links to terrorism and how they compare with prewar assessments;
E. prewar intelligence assessments about postwar Iraq;
F. any intelligence activities relating to Iraq conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG) and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; and
G. the use by the Intelligence Community of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress (INC).
Sen. Roberts said, "Today's agreement reflects a refinement and to a great extent a restatement of the Committee's ongoing review of pre-war intelligence. The resolution adopted unanimously today illustrates the commitment of all members to a thorough review, to learning the necessary lessons from our experience with Iraq, and to ensuring that our armed forces and policymakers benefit from the best and most reliable intelligence that can be collected. I believe that the report which we are currently reviewing will have a profound impact on the future of our Intelligence Community. My hope is that we be able to release our initial report soon and then continue our review as we work toward recommendations. I congratulate all members for their willingness to work together toward these goals."
Sen. Rockefeller said, "This agreement reflects a difficult and lengthy process, but in the end, we were able to reach consensus on the need to expand the investigation into several key areas."
"We will address the question of whether intelligence was exaggerated or misused by reviewing statements by senior policy makers to determine if those statements were substantiated by the intelligence," Rockefeller said. "We will take a closer look at the shortfalls in our intelligence collection. We will compare pre-war estimates to the situation in postwar Iraq, and we will pursue a better understanding of what role the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans played in pre-war intelligence. There are definitely a few outstanding issues, but we've made a lot of progress, and it's clear that we're moving in the right direction."
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