Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction: Final Report

The Final Report of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction was released March 31, 2005. 


 * Read the full report.

The Report
"In a scathing report," the Commission said that "America's spy agencies were 'dead wrong' in most of their judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the war and that the United States knows 'disturbingly little' about nuclear threats posed by many of its most dangerous adversaries."  The Commission said that "dramatic change" was necessary "to prevent future failures." It "outlined 74 recommendations," saying that President George W. Bush "could implement most of them without action by Congress." 

The Commission also "urged Bush to give broader powers to John Negroponte, his choice to be the new director of national intelligence, to deal with any challenges to his authority from" the CIA, Department of Defense "or other elements of the nation's 15 spy agencies." 

Additionally, the report "called for sweeping changes at the FBI to combine the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence resources into a new office." 

Reactions

 * "Why did this failure happen? Here the report is really whitewashing, claiming 'analytical shortcomings.' Me, I do not believe that for a minute - the Bush Administration wanted a certain conclusion and they got it. And 2 years later, 1500 U.S. deaths later, 13,000 U.S. and allied casualties later, tens of thousands of Iraqis dead later, hundred of billions of dollars spent later - we have an Iraq Debacle that, contrary to the CW of the Media, is headed nowhere good fast. ... Yep, it is a slam dunk." --Aramando at Daily Kos, March 31, 2005.

SourceWatch Resources

 * 9/11 Report Critique
 * Bush administration homeland security
 * Bush lies and deceptions: The Pakistani Exception
 * Congressional Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
 * Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security
 * Homeland defense
 * Homeland security
 * nuclear weapons
 * U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century / Hart-Rudman Commission