G. Using UAVs to Target the U.S.
( ) The assessment that Iraq's UAVs could threaten the U.S. homeland if brought close to, or into, the U.S., was an analytical judgment, that Iraq's small UAV had a capability to fly more than 500 km, and could be launched from the back of a truck, which made bringing a small UAV into or close to the U.S. homeland possible. Another intelligence report indicated that Iraq might launch small UAVs from boats, raising the IC's concern that Iraq could bring a small UAV close to the U.S. homeland. The only intelligence reporting that demonstrated any possibility that Iraq may have intended to use the UAVs to attack targets within the U.S. was reporting that Iraq was trying to procure U.S. mapping software for its small UAVs. The NIE said the procurement effort, "strongly suggests that Iraq is investigating the use of these UAVs for missions targeting the United States."
( ) The IC first learned that Iraq was interested in procuring the mapping software in the summer of 2001. Iraq was seeking information on various UAV components including for Mapping software. The software provides the user with a route planning capability overlaid on a geographic database, but is only usable for route planning in the U.S. Iraq's interest in the software did not garner significant attention from the IC until May 2002, when additional information that attempting to purchase the UAV components and the mapping software. SENTENCE DELETED considered this information to be very sensitive, it did not disseminate an intelligence report to the IC on the procurement attempt, but it did notify CIA analysts about the information. CIA analysts told Committee staff that analysts from other intelligence agencies were not notified.
( ) SENTENCE DELETED SENTENCE DELETED A CIA analyst told Committee staff that in the July to August 2002 time frame, The CIA conveyed the information to the other agency analysts on the telephone. The analysts told Committee staff that they had been unaware of the information until they received the CIA's telephone call.
( ) NAIC and USAF analysts told Committee staff that at the time DELETED they knew enough about the mapping software to know that it is readily available with route planning software. They said they were not very concerned that Iraq was trying to procure the mapping software to target the U.S., because they did not believe that the UAVs were intended for CBW delivery use and, therefore, Iraq would have no need to use the UAVs in the U.S.
( v) In August 2002, the CIA began to obtain additional information through a foreign government service about the Iraqi had been attempting to procure autopilots for Iraq's UAVs that the mapping software was offered with the autopilots . .
( ). PARAGRAPH DELETED This information was conveyed to CIA analysts at the time the NIE was being coordinated, but DO did not disseminate the information to other intelligence agencies outlining these issues about the mapping software in an intelligence report until November 18, 2002, almost two months after coordinating the NIE. SENTENCE DELETED
( ) The CIA analysts told Committee staff that when the NIE was being coordinated, they were confronted with two possible explanations for Iraq's attempt to procure mapping software: 1) that Iraq was attempting to obtain a mapping capability of the U.S., or 2)that it was a mistake DELETED who did not know what he was buying. Committee staff asked the CIA analysts why they assessed in the NIE that the mapping software procurement attempt "strongly suggests that Iraq is investigating the use of these UAV's for missions targeting the United States," when they knew that this was only one of two possibilities. CIA analysts told Committee staff that on the day of the National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB) meeting, one of their analysts suggested to supervisor that the word "strongly" be removed from the NIE based on the new information that had come from a foreign government service. The analyst's supervisor passed her comments on to the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Strategic and Nuclear Programs, but the NIO did not receive the comments until he returned from the NFIB meeting where the NIE language had been approved. The NIO told Committee staff that he did raise the issue with the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) and the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI) after the meeting, but they decided to keep the language that had been approved believing that a bullet which said, "We are attempting to collect additional information regarding the intent of this procurement effort" addressed the analyst's concerns.
( ) The DCI told Committee staff that the context of this issue had been the subject of his personal attention. SENTENCE DELETED UAVs recently-produced by the Iraqis could either be used for reconnaissance or to deliver weapons of mass destruction, and DELETED that Saddam could use UAVs for BW delivery against targets DELETED. The DCI said " Not good enough for me after the NFIB is closed and the state of my knowledge and all the things we'd been following with this case." The DCI also noted that the NIE text was modified from "at least some of these UAVs are destined for missions targeted against America" to "Iraq is investigating the use of these UAVs for missions targeting the United States."
( ) PARAGRAPH DELETED
( ) In January 2003, the NIC disseminated an NIE on Nontraditional Threats to the U.S. Homeland Through 2007. The majority IC position was modified in this NIE to say that the software "could support programming of a UAV autopilot for operation in the United States." By this time, agencies other than CIA had access to the intelligence report which said the Iraqi DELETED may have ordered the U.S. mapping software unintentionally. Based on the new information, the DIA, the USAF, and the Army all chose to include a footnote noting that they interpreted "recent reporting to mean that the purpose of the Iraqi request for route planning software and topographic database was to acquire a generic mapping capability - a goal that is not necessarily indicative of an intent to target the U.S. Homeland."
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