White House refuses to release full NIE

[cal04]

The White House refused Wednesday to release in full a previously secret intelligence assessment that depicts a growing terrorist threat and has fueled the election-season fight over the Iraq war.

Press secretary Tony Snow said releasing the full report, portions of which President Bush declassified on Tuesday, would jeopardize the lives of agents who gathered the information.

It would also risk the nation's ability to work with foreign governments and to keep secret its U.S. intelligence-gathering methods, Snow said, and "compromise the independence of people doing intelligence analysis."

"If they think their work is constantly going to be released to the public they are going to pull their punches," Snow said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060927/ap_on_go_pr_wh/terrorism_intelligence_48

NO surprise here

[bullimiami]

1. "there is no doubt iraq made terrorism worse" REDACTED VERSION-->>

"there is no ############# terrorism #####"

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. truth

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. sorry, but a full NIE release is never going to be likely

from any president...there is just too much information there that someone could use against us (or lack of information that someone could use against us). And the fact that any of it's contents were leaked to ANYONE should have the country up in arms...the leaks of classified information from ANY administration present or future should be vigorously traced and those responsible should be put up for trial.

sP

[bullimiami]

4. the simple fact is they will release only what serves them politically.

im afraid it has scant to do with national security.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. name one president who doesn't/didn't/wouldn't do this

I mean come on...one of my biggest pet-peeves on DU is the criticism of republican administration/gov't types for the exact same thing that any Democrat would do in a similar situation...the double-standard is a royal pain. Not saying the republicans don't do it, too, but it just seems somehow disingenuous.

sP

[bullimiami]

6. give me proof that another president politicized the NIEs like this.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. sorry...I asked first

but it is common knowledge that presidents (and indeed members of the legislative bodies) have selectively used intelligence and portions of intelligence reports to bolster their decisions in the public eye. Any of them have and are and will in the future (yes, I am THAT psychic :-) ).

sP

and OnEdit : it was someone other than bush that had information leaked to them...and THEY used the portions that they tought most damning so that might help you see how politicizing intelligence is done and used...

[Igel]

8. The same can be said for the initial leak.

We didn't hear that the NIE said that if we stay in Iraq and manage to make a success of it that analysts figure that a significant portion of the Islamist threat will evaporate. We only heard the present state of affairs: That the current situation in Iraq has motivated jihadis.

There were no complaints about a selective, partial, non-quote release that violated somebody's security clearance, probably for political purposes. It served our purposes, and therefore was blameless.