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The Washington Times

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1997 / PAGE A7

Panel wrong to deny politics in missile study, Weldon says

Republican wants criticism of 'defective' defense study

By Bill Gertz

A senior Republican member of the House National Security Committee is disputing the results of a blue-ribbon panel that concluded an intelligence estimate of missile threats was not "politicized."

"While I think we agree on many of the flaws in the analysis, I was disturbed by your assertion that it was congressional pressure which caused the premature release of the NIE [national intelligence estimate] and disappointed by your comments which absolve the intelligence community for its role in producing a defective assessment," Rep. Curt Weldon said in a letter to former CIA Director Robert Gates, the panel's head.

Mr. Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the National Security subcommittee on research and development, said defects uncovered by the panel had a major effect on the estimate and "are suggestive of politicization and deserve much harsher criticism."

Mr. Gates led a panel formed by CIA Director John M. Deutch to examine whether the missile threat estimate was skewed to fit administration policy.

Mr. Gates told a Senate hearing last month the panel found no evidence the estimate was influenced by political pressure and chastised critics as "irresponsible."

The final version of the estimate was "done in haste," Mr. Gates said. He later blamed a request by House Republicans, including Mr. Weldon, for the early release of the estimate's conclusions.

The declassified version of the panel's report blamed many of the defects in the estimate on "this haste" to complete it.

Mr. Gates said the estimate was "politically naive" because it did not thoroughly examine the range of issues associated with foreign missile developments.

The issue was politically charged because of differences between the administration and congressional Republicans on building missile defenses.

Mr. Weldon said in a Friday letter to Mr. Gates that the panel failed to get the views of the members of Congress who said the estimate was politicized.

"Instead, you merely exonerate the intelligence community of politicization, suggesting the report became victim to 'political naivete, " he wrote. "It is far more injurious to ignore or whitewash politicization when it exists than it is to suggest that possibility."

Mr. Weldon also denied that his request for the estimate caused it to be prepared in haste.

The CIA's congressional affairs office first released the conclusions to Sens. Dale Bumpers, Arkansas Democrat, and Carl Levin Michigan Democrat, as the Senate debated defense spending.

"It was not political naivete which prompted the release, but political calculation," Mr. Weldon said. "It is clear that the administration recognized that the NIE could be used to advantage during debate on national missile defense i policy; its congressional affairs representative ensured that hap- I pened."

A key flaw the panel identified in the estimate is the fact its title was subject to "continuing changes." "At minimum, what were seemingly minor changes narrowed the scope of the estimate and opened the way for embarrassing crit- I icism," the panel reported.

The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization asked for the estimate to cover "the United States," and the U.S. Space Command sought one on "North America and theater deployed forces and allies."

The final estimate focused on North America, failed to fully consider missile threats to Alaska and Hawaii, and made no mention of threats to U.S. forces deployed, abroad, the panel's report said.