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Syria: Bolton Congressional Appearance Canceled Due to Dispute Over WMD Assessment U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton’s planned appearance yesterday before a House International Relations subcommittee to testify on Syria’s WMD programs was delayed until September because of objections from U.S. intelligence agencies over his assessment, according to Knight-Ridder (see GSN, June 5). Bolton was prepared to tell the Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee that Syria’s WMD programs had developed to the point where they posed a threat to the region, U.S. officials said. The CIA and other intelligence agencies, however, objected to this assessment, saying it was exaggerated, according to Knight-Ridder. Bolton’s planned testimony caused a “revolt” among intelligence experts who thought it inflated Syria’s WMD progress, a U.S. official said. The CIA’s objections alone to Bolton’s prepared remarks ran to up to 40 pages, the official said. A Bolton aide said the undersecretary’s appearance was delayed because he was called to a White House meeting yesterday afternoon. Other White House and congressional officials said, however, that the White House Office of Management and Budget, which coordinates officials’ public statements, would not give final approval to Bolton’s prepared testimony. Another possible reason that Bolton’s congressional appearance was canceled was because of the questioning the White House has recently faced over possible exaggerations of Iraq-related intelligence, several officials said. There is now more attention paid to “dotting i’s and crossing t’s,” a U.S. State Department official said. The official added that Bolton’s prepared testimony was subjected to “extensive edits” (Strobel/Landay, Knight Ridder, Miami Herald, July 16).
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