Finally some clarity on the NIE Iran report

I pretty much quit blogging after the release of the NIE report the other day, because it seemed like a muddled mess of polical posturing and I’ve read eveything I could get my hands on about this particular subject. But nothing blog-worthy.

Until now. Today, John Bolton has turned on the lights in the Washington Post;

Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released this week. Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event. And rarely have vehement critics of the “intelligence community” on issues such as Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction reversed themselves so quickly.

All this shows that we not only have a problem interpreting what the mullahs in Tehran are up to, but also a more fundamental problem: Too much of the intelligence community is engaging in policy formulation rather than “intelligence” analysis, and too many in Congress and the media are happy about it. President Bush may not be able to repair his Iran policy (which was not rigorous enough to begin with) in his last year, but he would leave a lasting legacy by returning the intelligence world to its proper function.

Please read it all.

Category: Politics, Terror War