Wednesday
Mar112009
Coming Next in the Intelligence-Policy Battle: Iran's Uranium
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 9:32
Related Post: How Israel Limits US Foreign Policy
Related Post: Charles Freeman’s Letter Withdrawing His Nomination
Related Post: Charles Freeman’s Speech on the Middle East and Israel
The Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair (pictured) ---- on the same day that the Obama Administration had to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council --- has just set the scene for another political battle in Washington.
Blair told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday:
Blair's assertion that Israel was envisaging a "worst-case scenario" about Iranian plans for nuclear energy was echoed by the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, "The Israelis are far more concerned about [the Iranian programme]."
With his testimony, Blair is both reinforcing and clarifying his statements, made to Congress in January, about Iran's nuclear capabilities. On that occasion, he hedged on the clear statement by the US intelligence services that it had no evidence that Iran had resumed an nuclear weapons programme, which Washington claimed had been started but suspended in 2003.
This time, Blair made no qualifications. So don't be surprised if, after the forced withdrawal of Charles Freeman's nomination, there is another battle between between Congress and the US intelligence services.
The Obama Administration lost Round One (some would say "caved in"). Does it dare lose Round Two?
Related Post: Charles Freeman’s Letter Withdrawing His Nomination
Related Post: Charles Freeman’s Speech on the Middle East and Israel
The Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair (pictured) ---- on the same day that the Obama Administration had to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council --- has just set the scene for another political battle in Washington.Blair told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday:
The overall situation -- and the intelligence community agrees on this -- [is] that Iran has not decided to press forward . . . to have a nuclear weapon on top of a ballistic missile. Our current estimate is that the minimum time at which Iran could technically produce the amount of highly enriched uranium for a single weapon is 2010 to 2015.
Blair's assertion that Israel was envisaging a "worst-case scenario" about Iranian plans for nuclear energy was echoed by the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, "The Israelis are far more concerned about [the Iranian programme]."
With his testimony, Blair is both reinforcing and clarifying his statements, made to Congress in January, about Iran's nuclear capabilities. On that occasion, he hedged on the clear statement by the US intelligence services that it had no evidence that Iran had resumed an nuclear weapons programme, which Washington claimed had been started but suspended in 2003.
This time, Blair made no qualifications. So don't be surprised if, after the forced withdrawal of Charles Freeman's nomination, there is another battle between between Congress and the US intelligence services.
The Obama Administration lost Round One (some would say "caved in"). Does it dare lose Round Two?