home | about | documents | news | postings | FOIA | research | internships | search | donate | mailing list
A summary of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on "Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction" was released on July 18, 2003, ten days after President Bush allegedly authorized the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to share similar information with New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

What the President Leaked

Authorized Leak or Declassification?

The Documents Behind the Bush Administration's Intelligence
Disclosure on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction

For more information contact:
Thomas Blanton - 202/994-7000

For more information
CIA Whites Out Controversial Estimate on Iraq Weapons
July 9, 2004

Washington D.C., 7 April 2006 - Only 14 of the full 93 pages of the National Intelligence Estimate that President Bush authorized Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to disclose to New York Times reporter Judith Miller has actually been officially declassified, according to a posting today on the Web site of the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

The estimate has apparently been released in four forms:

  • one, a white paper that purportedly represented the substance of the estimate but actually left out most of the dissents and caveats;
  • second, an abstract that Mr. Libby apparently used to brief New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003;
  • third, the July 18, 2003, release by the White House of the "key judgments" section and parts of the dissents;
  • and fourth, a Freedom of Information Act release to the National Security Archive on June 1, 2004, that included two additional pages but left the vast majority of the estimate whited out.

The July 18, 2003, "key judgments" document was declassified and released by the Bush administration just ten days after President Bush authorized Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to disclose similar information to Miller, according to Libby's testimony before a grand jury.

"The ship of state is the only vessel that leaks from the top," commented Thomas Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive.

Also included in today's posting is the October 2002 unclassified presentation on "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs," with the seal of the Director of Central Intelligence on the cover, and a version of the NIE released by the CIA on June 1, 2004, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the National Security Archive. The document was almost completely redacted by CIA censors. All of the text except for the two title pages and the two pages listing National Intelligence Council members had previously been disclosed in the July 2003 release.

Documents

National Intelligence Estimate - CIA declassification release
Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction
October 2002, Top Secret
Source: CIA declassification release under FOIA, June 1, 2004

National Intelligence Estimate - White House declassification release
Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction
October 2002, Top Secret (Extract)
Source: White House, July 18, 2003

National Intelligence Estimate - CIA Unclassified version
Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs
October 2002, Unclassified
Source: CIA public release, October 2002

home | about | documents | news | postings | FOIA | research | internships | search | donate | mailing list

Contents of this website Copyright 1995-2017 National Security Archive. All rights reserved.
Terms and conditions for use of materials found on this website.