Washington, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt and 33 Members of Congress today called on President George W. Bush to release the entire April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States.” Portions of the NIE, which the President ordered released on September 26, indicate that US intelligence professionals from 16 different agencies agree that the invasion of
Delahunt, a member of the House International Relations Committee, noted that during the 2002 debate on whether to use force against
“What didn’t they release this time?” asked Delahunt, who opposed the invasion of Iraq because he wanted to focus on fighting al Qaeda, the group which actually attacked the US on September 11, 2001 (as the 9/11 Commission concluded, there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda). “The Administration must trust the American people and release all the information, save that which would harm national security.” The text of the letter is below and a full list of signatories is available on request.
Dear President Bush:
Thank you for releasing portions of the April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the
The declassified portions of the report demonstrate clearly that the consensus of intelligence professionals is that the
“…activists identifying themselves as jihadists, although a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion…If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide.
“We assess that the operational threat from self-radicalized cells will grow in importance to US counterterrorism efforts, particularly abroad but also in the Homeland.
“The
“Anti-US and anti-globalization sentiment is on the rise and fueling other radical ideologies…The radicalization process is occurring more quickly, more widely, and more anonymously in the Internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint.”
Despite the assessment of the intelligence community that
In declaring your intention to declassify part of the NIE, you denounced the prior leak of the intelligence assessment as being done for “political purposes.” However, releasing just a portion of the NIE smacks of exactly that kind of political use of classified information, especially given that your Administration has done this before. In the fall of 2002, your Administration made public only portions of a NIE on
Mr. President, you have the opportunity to avoid another such blow to your credibility and, by extension, that of the
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