Update: Kay and WMD/Intelligence
From the Boston Globe:
Former top U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told members of the Senate Wednesday that the failure to turn up weapons of mass destruction in Iraq exposed weaknesses in America's intelligence-gathering apparatus.
''We've had a number of surprises,'' Kay told reporters after meeting behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee. ''It's quite clear we need capabilities that we do not have with regard to intelligence.''
Later, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that ''we were almost all wrong and I certainly include myself here,'' in believing that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
But Kay denied suggestions by Democrats that intelligence analysts felt pressured by the administration to shape intelligence to help President Bush make the case for war. He said he spoke to many analysts who prepared the intelligence and ''not in a single case was the explanation that I was pressured to this.''
Kay also said despite no evidence of weapons stockpiles, Iraqi documents, physical evidence and interviews with Iraqi scientists revealed that Iraq was engaged in weapons programs prohibited by U.N. resolutions.
Matt's Chat
The more I hear from Kay, the more I am convinced that we do have a serious problem with our intelligence capabilities. One that the President needs to take solid and immediate action on as soon as possible.Mark's Remarks
First of all, what needs to happen is some house cleaning at CIA. George Tenet should do the honorable thing and resign. Then, Bush should clean house. The fact of the matter is this problem has been growing since even before the miserable failure 8 years of Bill Clinton, though his executive orders and directives were even more difficult on our intelligence folks. Every time we had a lead or insight, Clinton would blab it to the press...Osama would get a new cell phone, and we would lose him again. The blame must be assigned to the intel folks and the Clinton administration which handcuffed an already bound intel community.
