WP: Intelligence...agencies not equal to needs of preemptive attack policy

[Newsjock]

Edit to add link, change title to conform.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20004-2003Nov28.html

Intelligence Weaknesses Are Cited
Draft Says Agencies Not Equal to Needs of Preemptive Attack Policy
By Walter Pincus
(c) 2003, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — More than 10 years' work by U.S. and British intelligence agencies on Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or programs has ``major gaps and serious intelligence problems,'' according to a new study by Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East and intelligence expert who is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

``Even a cursory review'' of charges the U.S. and British administrations made in white papers released before the Iraq war ``shows that point after point that was made was not confirmed during the war or after the first (six) months of effort following the conflict,'' Cordesman found in his study, a draft of which he provided to The Washington Post.

Although the United States has the world's most sophisticated technical systems for collecting and analyzing intelligence, Cordesman found, the Iraq experience shows that U.S. intelligence is ``not yet adequate to support grand strategy and tactical operations against proliferating powers or to make accurate assessments of the need to pre-empt.'' Pre-emption, or waging war to prevent an enemy from attacking, is a key part of the Bush war on terrorism policy.

Another new non-governmental report, on the Bush administration's controversial claim that Iraq was seeking specialized aluminum tubes to use in a centrifuge to create nuclear weapons material, raises questions about whether senior policy-makers ignored technically qualified critics to promote the Iraqi threat.

more

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. ____ Duuuuuuuh!____

.

[goforit]

2. LOL!!!......This story is so OLD....LOL!!!!...(no) ROFLMAO!!!!!

The Washington Post is just so behind.

But do keep trying.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)...

...is basically a rightwing think-tank that claims to be a nonpartisan organization. This article is nothing more than another shot in the ongoing war between the NeoCons (OSP in the Pentagon) and the CIA.

The CIA repeatedly warned the NeoCons to include the White House, Pentagon and the State Department, not to make public statements such as "Iraq has WMDs", because the existing data found no such evidence.

Despite that advice, Bunnypants gave a State of the Union address containing the now infamous "16 words", and Powell gave his address to the UN stating that Iraq had WMDs. The Pentagon made comments about WMDs in Iraq almost every day. As we all know now, none of it was true.

Expect a return shot from the CIA fairly soon.

Here is the CSIS website:

<http://csis.org/about/index.htm>

Members and publications:

Board of Trustees

Chairman
Sam Nunn*
Senior Partner, King and Spalding

Vice Chairman
David M. Abshire
President, Center for the Study of the Presidency,
and Cofounder of CSIS

Chairman, Executive Committee
Anne Armstrong*
Former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain

Members

Betty Stanley Beene Kenneth G. Langone
Reginald K. Brack Donald B. Marron
William E. Brock E. Stanley O'Neal
Harold Brown Felix G. Rohatyn
Zbigniew Brzezinski Charles A. Sanders
William S. Cohen James R. Schlesinger
Ralph Cossa William A. Schreyer*
Douglas N. Daft Brent Scowcroft
Richard Fairbanks Murray Weidenbaum
Michael P. Galvin* Dolores D. Wharton
John J. Hamre* Frederick B. Whittemore
Ben W. Heineman R. James Woolsey
Carla A. Hills Amos A. Jordan, (Emeritus)
Ray L. Hunt Leonard H. Marks, (Emeritus)
Henry A. Kissinger Robert S. Strauss, (Emeritus)

*Member of the Executive Committee


Counselors

William E. Brock Henry A. Kissinger
Harold Brown Sam Nunn
Zbigniew Brzezinski James R. Schlesinger
William S. Cohen Brent Scowcroft
Richard Fairbanks



Senior Advisers


J. Carter Beese
John Kornblum
Bradley D. Belt
Robert H. Kupperman
James M. Bodner
Charles Manatt
Stanton H. Burnett
Laurence Martin
Richard R. Burt
David McCurdy
Wesley K. Clark
Thomas F. (Mack) McLarty
William K. Clark, Jr.
Laurence H. Meyer (Distinguished Visiting Scholar)
Kenneth Courtis
Arthur Money
Arnaud de Borchgrave Thomas Pickering (Distinguished Senior Adviser)
Diana Lady Dougan Joseph W. Ralston (Distinguished Senior Adviser)
Robert J. Einhorn
J. Stapleton Roy (Distinguished Senior Adviser)
Michele Flournoy
Robert Tyrer
Louis J. Freeh
Walter Slocombe
Luis E. Giusti
Anne Solomon
Fred C. Iklé (Distinguished Scholar in Residence) Robert Tyrer
Amos A. Jordan Dale Watson
Anthony Zinni (Distinguished Senior Adviser)


CSIS Leadership

Corporate Officers

John J. Hamre, President and Chief Executive Officer
Robin Niblett, Executive Vice President
Kurt Campbell, Senior Vice President and Director, International Security Program
Erik R. Peterson, Senior Vice President and Schreyer Chair
Patrick M. Cronin, Senior Vice President and Director of Studies
Greg Broaddus, Vice President for Operations and Treasurer
Judy L. Harbaugh, Vice President for Development and Corporate Secretary
Jay C. Farrar, Vice President for External Affairs


Governance

Robert E. Ebel, Director, Energy Program
George Handy, Director, International Action Commissions
Richard Jackson, Director, Global Aging Initiative
Shireen T. Hunter, Director, Islam Program
Sherman E. Katz, William M. Scholl Chair in International Business
James A. Lewis, Director, Technology and Public Policy Program
Erik R. Peterson, William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis
Anne G. Solomon, Senior Adviser, Technology and Public Policy Program and Director, Biotechnology Initiative


International Security

Kurt Campbell, Director, International Security Program and Henry A. Kissinger Chair in National Security
Anthony H. Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy
Arnaud de Borchgrave, Director, Transnational Threat Initiative
Robert Einhorn, Senior Adviser, International Security Program
Michèle Flournoy, Senior Adviser, International Security Program


Regions

Jon B. Alterman, Director, Middle East Program
Bulent Aliriza, Director, Turkey Project
William T. Breer, Japan Chair
Janusz Bugajski, Director, Eastern Europe Project
Ralph Cossa, President, Pacific Forum CSIS
Bates Gill, Freeman Chair in China Studies
J. Stephen Morrison, Director, Africa Program
Teresita C. Schaffer, Director, South Asia Program
Simon Serfaty, Director, Europe Program
Celeste A. Wallander, Director, Russia and Eurasia Program
Sidney Weintraub, William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy and Director, Americas Program


CSIS Affiliates

The International Councillors, a group of international business leaders chaired by Henry Kissinger, meets semi-annually to discuss the implications of the changing economic and strategic environment.

The Advisory Board is composed of both public- and private- sector policymakers, including several members of Congress. Zbigniew Brzezinski and Carla Hills cochair the board.

The Washington Roundtable meets three to four times a year with members of Congress, executive branch officials, and other Washington experts to discuss pressing policy issues of the day.

The Houston and Dallas Roundtables bring together local business leaders and CSIS experts to discuss current international political and economic trends.


CSIS Outreach

Conferences:
CSIS convenes 700-800 meetings, seminars, and conferences each year in Washington and throughout the world.

Internet. CSIS maintains a popular World Wide Web site at http://www.csis.org/.

Congress. CSIS interacts and engages with Congress through the substantive involvement of members in CSIS projects, through participation in member and staff briefings, and by providing expert testimony at congressional hearings.

Media. CSIS generates thousands of media appearances, articles, and background contacts annually.

Publications. CSIS publications include its journal, the Washington Quarterly; ; a monograph series, The Washington Papers; books published through the Significant Issues Series; CSIS Panel Reports and CSIS Reports; and books copublished with commercial and.university presses. We also issue a variety of newsletters and periodicals, including Africa Notes; Briefing Notes on Islam, Society, and Politics; Canada Focus; Euro-Focus; Hemisphere Focus; Issues in International Political Economy; Japan Watch; South Asia Monitor; and Turkey Update, among others.

Information on CSIS publications is available through The CSIS Press sales office at [phone] (tel), [phone] (fax), or [e-mail], as well as online at http://www.csis.org/pubs.

[Old and In the Way]

4. You are right.

This is nothing but bullshit. The problem is when the people that are supposed to use the intelligence to protect us, use it to fuether their own agenda or protect their friends. There is nothing wrong with our intel....what's wrong is the people who are running this country and using it for their own ends.

Show us the Presidential briefings and we can prove it.