WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched what its chairman called a "preemptive" examination of U.S. intelligence on Iran as part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar assessments on Iraq.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said in an interview Friday that he had sought the unusual review because the erroneous prewar claims about Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction had made lawmakers wary of the CIA's current assessments on Iran.
"We have to be more preemptive on this committee to try to look ahead and determine our capabilities so that you don't get stuck with a situation like you did with Iraq," said Roberts, who also voiced concern about current intelligence on the insurgency in Iraq.
The White House has made it clear that Iran will be a focus of U.S. foreign policy in President Bush's second term. In his State of the Union speech this week, the president identified Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror, pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve."
A recent CIA report concludes that Tehran is vigorously pursuing programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
The aim of the Senate review, Roberts said, is to ensure that any weaknesses in American intelligence on Iran are disclosed to policymakers, and that U.S. spy agencies have adequate resources to fill gaps in information on the Islamic republic.
Roberts said that the review was in its early stages and that the committee had not reached any preliminary judgments about the quality of U.S. intelligence reports on Tehran's alleged weapons activities.
Senior aides on the committee emphasized that the panel was not opening a formal investigation or inquiry. Rather, they said that the review of intelligence on Iran was part of a broader shift in the way the committee approached its oversight responsibilities, toward anticipating problems rather than investigating intelligence failures after they occur.
Roberts said the review of U.S. efforts to spy on Iran would largely take place behind closed doors, involving interviews with analysts and intelligence officials and a review of classified documents.
Aides said that unlike the committee's review on Iraq, which culminated in a 500-page public report containing harsh criticism of the CIA, there was no plan to go public with its findings on the quality of intelligence on Iran.
