Rep. Harman (D-CA) demands release of 'grim' Iraq intel report

RAW STORY
Published: Friday October 6, 2006

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Michael V. Hayden, Director of the CIA, demanding the release of a classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that "paints a 'grim' picture of the situation in Iraq," the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

Harman requested the report's release, "charging that the agency was withholding the information out of political considerations," writes Greg Miller in the Times.

"I believe that the intelligence community has produced an in-depth intelligence review of Iraq," Harman said in the letter, "but that the material has been stamped 'draft' and will not be finalized" until after the elections.

The Bush administration released a previous NIE in September, that painted an unflattering picture of the Iraq war's effects on the terror threat. National Intelligence Director John D. Negroponte then acknowledged that there was a second NIE in progress, whose release Harman is now demanding. "Such assessments," Miller writes, "represent the consensus views of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies."

Excerpts of the registration-restricted article follow:

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A spokesman for Negroponte's office said the latest intelligence estimate on Iraq was begun in August, and Bush administration officials have indicated that it is unlikely to be ready for release until next year.

Harman has expressed frustration with that timetable. She said Thursday that she had recently learned of a separate assessment on Iraq that was much closer to being finished.

In a conference call with reporters, Harman said she had few details on the document, but that she was "confident" that a completed draft was being held at the CIA. She said it should be made available to members of the House Intelligence Committee.

"I know that there is a substantially complete assessment on Iraq," Harman said. "I understand it is grim. I understand many working inside the intelligence community are frustrated because the release of that document is being blocked."

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