Langevin Statement on Report Concluding Failed Intelligence Gathering

LANGEVIN STATEMENT ON REPORT CONCLUDING FAILED INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
March 31, 2005

(Warwick, R.I.)-Congressman Jim Langevin, a member of the House Committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security, today commented on release of the report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.

"The report's conclusions provide further evidence that the Administration rushed into a war with Iraq without a sufficiently dependable or far-reaching analysis of gathered intelligence. This report is yet another credible assessment of massive intelligence failures in the lead-up to the Iraq war, and I will say what I have said many times before: these types of glaring oversights and misinterpretations must never occur again. I hope President Bush and his Administration will take a hard look at the WMD Commission's recommendations and implement the changes necessary to ensure that our intelligence community is operating in a cooperative environment where dissent is not stifled, that their conclusions are based on fact rather than assumption, that our collection and analysis methods are reliable, and that our intelligence agencies are able to adapt to changing global circumstances.

My colleagues and I are eager to offer whatever support the intelligence community may need to achieve these goals and restore Americans' faith in our ability to gather, analyze and act upon information prior to sending our men and women in uniform into harm's way."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ri02_langevin/pr033105intelwmd.html