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A. Background

(U) In November 2002, the President issued National Security Presidential Directive (NSPO)-21 directing the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) to provide all necessary intelligence and support to United Nations (UN) weapons inspections in Iraq. On January 3, 2003, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) issued guidance to senior IC officials emphasizing that priority shall be given to collecting, analyzing, and producing intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs that is immediately shareable with inspection teams or that is necessary to ensure their safety and security.

(U) Starting in December 2002, Senator Carl Levin sent a series of requests to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seeking detailed information on the extent to which the IC was sharing intelligence information on Iraqi suspect weapons of mass destruction sites with UN inspectors.

(U) In mid-February 2003, the DCI testified in open session before both the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Armed Services Committee that the CIA had shared all information of value it possessed on high-, and moderate-priority suspect sites with UN inspectors. Similar assertions were made by the DCI and the National Security Advisor in two March 6, 2003, letters sent to Senator Levin.

(U) At the Committee's April 30, 2003, closed hearing, Senator Levin voiced concerns that the information the CIA had provided to him and the Committee on the subject was unresponsive, incomplete and inconsistent.

(U) Senator Levin's primary concern was that unclassified written and oral statements made by the DCI to the effect that, by mid-February 2003, the U.S. had shared all information of value on high and moderate priority suspect sites with UN inspectors, were not accurate and contrary to a classified body of information obtained from the CIA.

(U) At the hearing, Chairman Pat Roberts and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, joined by Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, echoed Senator Levin's concerns. Chairman Roberts directed that the Committee staff, pursuant to the Committee's oversight responsibilities, undertake a more in-depth review of how the CIA carried out its information-sharing responsibilities during the November 2002-March 2003 time frame:

Chairman Roberts: " . . . the numbers don't add up. That's why it's caused great concern on my part and that of Senator Rockefeller and more especially Senator Warner and Senator Levin. If we could get that straightened out - and I'm going to make a suggestion that we have staff, Senator Levin, work with CIA to see if we cannot have a briefing, if not a hearing . . . " (SSCI Hearing, April 30, 2003)

(U) The Committee staff met with representatives of the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to discuss how and to what extent the U.S. Intelligence Community shared intelligence information on Iraqi suspect weapons of mass destruction (WMD) sites with UN inspectors. The Committee staff also traveled to the UN in New York City and interviewed Dr. Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mr. Jim Corcoran, head of intelligence for UNMOVIC.