U.S. Commission Deems Intel on Iran as Poor

Middle East Newsline:

A presidential commission has deemed inadequate the U.S. intelligence community's knowledge of Iran's strategic programs. The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction determined that U.S. intelligence had few assets in Iran as well as little direct knowledge of Teheran's missile and nuclear programs. The commission report, in both the classified and unclassified versions, said the CIA has largely failed to penetrate Iran's missile and weapons of mass destruction programs.

"Our collection agencies are often unable to gather intelligence on the very things we care the most about," the unclassified version of the report said. "From Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons to the inner workings of Al Qaida, the Intelligence Community frequently admitted to us that it lacks answers." READ MORE

Directed by federal appeals court judge Laurence Silberman, the nine-member commission concluded that the CIA had little human intelligence regarded as reliable in Iran. In some cases, the CIA was said to have failed to exploit the use of Iranians who could have penetrated Teheran's missile and WMD programs.