Iran, North Korea Intelligence Lacking, Senior Senate Intelligence Committee Members Say

U.S. intelligence on Iran and North Korea remains inadequate in the face escalating tensions with those countries, the two senior members of the Senate intelligence committee said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 14).

The CIA’s National Intelligence Council has ordered the first update of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran in four years, as well as another assessment of its WMD programs, both of which are expected next month, according to Reuters.

“It suggests to me that in terms of available personnel and available analysts, the lack of human intelligence and what we’ve come to in declining budgets in previous administrations, that we were stretched very thin,” said Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“We had other irons in the fire, i.e. Afghanistan and Iraq.”

The Bush administration aim of seeking the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program may no longer be realistic, Roberts also told Reuters.

“They have whatever capability they have, and they insist that they are going to continue with that and I think that’s the way it is,” Roberts said.

“I’m not sure that asking them to recant, take that capability down, live with their surrounding neighbors in peace and stability. ... I don’t think that’s in the cards.”

Senator John Rockefeller (D-West Va.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, agreed that intelligence on both countries was inadequate.

“If we were to have anything, it would be wholly insufficient as to the magnitude of what we face in either of those countries,” Rockefeller said.

Roberts said President George W. Bush is likely to nominate a new director of national intelligence after a presidential commission studying WMD intelligence issues a report next month. Possible candidates include commission co-chairman U.S. appellate judge Laurence Silberman and commission member William Studeman, according to Reuters (David Morgan, Reuters, Feb. 14).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.