WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has failed to gather
sufficient evidence to accurately project when Iran would
achieve nuclear weapons capability.
Members of key congressional committees from both political parties said representatives of the
intelligence community have been unable to form an adequate assessment of Teheran's capabilities.
They said that despite funding increases the intelligence community has not
significantly improved its assets in Iran.
"We're getting lots of mixed messages," Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of
the House Select Intelligence Committee, said. "We've got a long way to go
in rebuilding our intelligence community. We don't have all of the
information we would like to have."
Rep. Jane Harman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, agreed. Ms. Harman has warned that the intelligence
community has not provided sufficient data to Congress for a decision on
whether to use military force against Iran.
Hoekstra said the U.S. intelligence community, despite its annual
assessments, remains in the dark regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities.
"I'd say we really don't know," Hoekstra said in a television interview
on April 23.
"Our intelligence is thin," Ms. Harman said. "I don't think we have
enough sources, I don't think our analysis is sharp enough. This is not a
time to be saber-rattling in our government. Just the fact that the Iranian
government is making a lot of noise doesn't prove their capabilities."
Last week, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte played down
Iran's claims that it has completed the nuclear fuel cycle. Negroponte said Iran remains several years away
from assembling its first nuclear weapon.
"Our assessment at the moment is that even though we believe that Iran
is determined to acquire or obtain a nuclear weapon, that we believe that it
is still a number of years off before they are likely to have enough fissile
material to assemble into or to put into a nuclear weapon, perhaps into the
next decade," Negroponte said on April 20. "So that I think it's important
that this issue be kept in perspective.
