How We’ve Improved Intelligence
Nearly one year ago, President Bush’s commission on weapons of mass destruction released its report identifying shortcomings in the intelligence community. Many of the commission’s judgments dealt with analysis, the discipline I lead at the CIA. The primary criticism was that our analysts were “too wedded to their assumptions” and that our tradecraft — the way we analyze a subject and communicate our findings — needed strengthening. We did not try to hide from the criticism or make excuses. Our assessment of Saddam Hussein’s WMD capabilities was flawed. The fact that foreign intelligence services made similar errors in no way absolved us of ours. Full Story