Vice Chairman Rockefeller Reacts to Long-Overdue Progress on Intelligence Committee's Phase II Report

VICE CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER REACTS TO LONG-OVERDUE PROGRESS ON INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE'S PHASE II REPORT

Washington, D.C. - The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence announced today that it has completed work on two of the five sections that comprise what is known as Phase II of the Committee's review of prewar intelligence on Iraq. This effort builds on the Committee's July 2004 report on the Intelligence Community's failures prior to the Iraq war.

"Phase II was intended to answer very important questions about the role of intelligence and whether the Administration manipulated or misused intelligence in the lead up to the war. The American people continue to have questions about how and why we went to war, and they deserve a full accounting of what happened.

"The Intelligence Committee has already determined that pre-war intelligence was flawed. Now, we're starting to shed light on some of the other problems that affected the decision-making process. Our ultimate goal must be to determine where mistakes where made in the full cycle of intelligence -- collection, analysis, dissemination and use. Only then can we begin to fix problems that are critical to our national security," Rockefeller said.

The two reports that the Committee approved today deal with how information from the Iraqi National Congress (INC) affected intelligence, and how postwar evidence uncovered in Iraq over the last three years compares to the prewar intelligence assessments.

"The two reports we have approved today are enormously important and I commend all members of the Committee for their tenacity in getting us to this point. But, they are only two of the five tasks the Committee unanimously agreed to review nearly 2 ½ years ago. No matter how difficult the coming days and months are in reaching agreement, we must remain committed to answering all of these important questions - both for our citizens today and for generations to come," Rockefeller added

Vice Chairman Rockefeller joined Chairman Roberts in calling on the Administration to quickly declassify the two completed reports and to limit redactions to those things that pose a real and justified risk if exposed. "I join Chairman Roberts in strongly urging the Administration to quickly and sensibly declassify these important reports so that Americans can make informed judgments themselves," Rockefeller added.

The Committee is continuing its work on the other sections and hopes to finish a third section -- the quality of prewar intelligence assessments about postwar Iraq -- in September. The Committee also hopes to soon produce a draft report on the section that compares public statements to the intelligence available to policymakers.

Senator Rockefeller again encouraged Chairman Roberts to reconsider his decision to suspend the Committee inquiry into the 5th and final section of the report: the intelligence activities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Chairman Roberts has stated that the Committee will not undertake any additional work on this section until the Defense Department Inspector General completes an ongoing investigation of potential wrongdoing by this office.

http://rockefeller.senate.gov/news/2006/pr080306a.html