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US commission blasts intelligence community

A presidential commission investigating weapons of mass destruction is highly critical of US intelligence agencies' performance on Iran, North Korea and Libya and their inability to determine what went wrong on Iraq, individuals familiar with the findings say.

None of the 15 agencies is expected to be singled out as doing an exemplary job of collecting or assessing intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. The report from the nine-member panel is expected next week.

"I don't get the impression that one [agency] is better than the other," said Senator John McCain, a member of the commission.

The report comes at a critical time for the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and others that collect, protect and analyze secrets.

All face the prospect of sweeping changes from the intelligence overhaul passed in December, including the appointment of a national intelligence director. US President George W. Bush's nominee, John Negroponte, has a Senate confirmation hearing next month.

The new director will take over a sprawling bureaucracy, beset by infighting and fault-finding since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and botched prewar intelligence that apparently greatly magnified the threat from Iraq. The commission's recommendations will fall largely to Negroponte to implement.

Individuals familiar with the report, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the commission devoted significant time to dissecting what went wrong on the Iraq intelligence, including many issues that have been examined by internal government investigators and the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Silberman-Robb commission also examined closely the US capability to understand programs in Libya, North Korea and Iran to produce weapons of mass destruction.

Libya has agreed to give up its efforts to develop such weapons of mass destruction and dismantle those it has. Iran and North Korea remain significant hot spots for the US. Intelligence operatives and analysts are not expected to get high praise for their efforts in those countries.
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