Senator Feinstein Calls For Bush Administration Help
in Obtaining National Intelligence Estimate
On Iraq Threat
September 17, 2002
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Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has requested the Bush Administration's help in ensuring that the Director of Central Intelligence prepare a National Intelligence Estimate assessing the nature, magnitude and immediacy of the threat posed to the United States by Iraq. A National Intelligence Estimate is the most formal, and most authoritative, intelligence report produced by the Intelligence Community.

In a letter to the President, Senator Feinstein wrote: "It is my understanding that you are seriously considering commencing military attacks against Iraq, and this consideration is based on a belief that Iraq poses a clear and imminent threat to our national security. This consideration entails, as you have promised, consultation with the Congress.

With so much at stake, I was thus concerned to find that there has been little formal current intelligence analysis which seeks to answer the most critical of questions: What is the threat posed by Iraq? What will be the result if we attack Iraq? There has not been a formal rigorous Intelligence Community assessment, such as [a] National Intelligence Estimate, addressing the issues relating to Iraq, and I deeply believe that such an assessment is vital to Congressional decision[-]making, and most specifically, any resolution which may come before the Senate.

At my urging, Senator Graham, Chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, has asked the Director of Central Intelligence for a National Intelligence Estimate, on one aspect of our policy relating to Iraq, and has expanded that request to encompass other issues. My colleague, Senator Durbin, has also asked the Director for a National Intelligence Estimate, focused on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. Today I respectfully request that you ensure that these analyses are completed, and expanded to encompass the entire scope of [the] threat posed by Iraq.

The question is a simple one: should we go to war? The answer is not simple, involving complex issues and ambiguous evidence. Our Intelligence Community, at considerable expense, exists to help us answer such questions. I ask your assistance in ensuring that we make use of the intelligence resources at our disposal, sharing, as I know I do, your goal of making the right decision for our country."

Senator Feinstein is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. A copy of her letter to the President is available upon request.

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