WASHINGTON, DC – The Chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), today released his schedule for the completion of the Committee’s Phase II inquiry, reminding members of their commitment to finish the work as they voted to do two years ago.

“Much has been said over the last few months about the Committee’s progress on Phase II of its review of issues related to prewar intelligence on Iraq,” Roberts said. “Notwithstanding the Minority’s public cries of ‘delay,’ Phase II has been ongoing since we began the effort shortly after the Committee released its unanimous report on the Intelligence Community’s prewar assessments on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. In our first report we concluded unanimously that the intelligence was wrong and that nobody was pressured to reach any predetermined conclusions.”

“We also agreed to look at the following five distinct issues, which have become the Phase II inquiry,” the chairman explained. These are:

• Whether public statements, reports and testimony regarding Iraq by U.S. government officials made between the Gulf War and the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom were substantiated by intelligence information;
• The postwar findings about Iraq’s WMD programs and links to terrorism and how they compare with prewar assessments;
• Prewar intelligence assessments about postwar Iraq;
• Any intelligence activities relating to Iraq conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG) and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; and
• The use by the Intelligence Community of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress (INC).

For more than two years, committee staff has worked on the inquiry, reviewing more than 40,000 pages of documentation and traveling overseas to interview key officials. “The work is nearly complete – and now requires the members of the committee to complete their review and vote for final release,” Roberts said. The following is the chairman’s schedule for completion and release:

• March 14, 2006 - Staff briefing on three drafts: 1) pre-war assessments about post-war Iraq; 2) post-war findings about pre-war WMD and terrorism assessments; and 3) Intelligence Community use of Iraqi National Congress (INC) information.
• March 15-24, 2006 - members submit changes, staff makes changes, any unresolved member changes held for member discussion, Intelligence Community provides answers to final requests.
• March 27, 2006 - New drafts ready with conclusions.
• April 5, 2006 - Preliminary draft on “statements” section of Phase II ready for members/liaison to review during the two week recess.

“This schedule provides a reasonable time frame for member input as we complete the inquiry and move to schedule a public release date for each element,” Roberts said. “If people are serious about finishing Phase II, they don’t need to shut down the Senate or hold press conferences decrying the process, they just need to come do the work.”

“During Phase II, all members of the Committee have had full access to the process and relevant materials as the Committee’s staff worked toward completion of draft findings and conclusions,” Roberts added.

“We are now nearing the end of that process. Over the next several weeks the committee’s members will work with staff to write the final products. Because each element of ‘Phase II’ is separate and distinct, my goal is to complete each section as soon as possible, get appropriate declassification and publicly issue individual reports as they become available. As the Minority stated when it shut down the Senate, the public deserves to see this information as we complete it – without delay – and as chairman, it’s my pledge to do that. However, the Vice Chairman has already stated publicly that all sections must be released simultaneously, otherwise the report will be ‘incomplete.’ That is a refrain I expect you will be hearing over the next several weeks. It is a time tested tactic in politics; if you don’t have the facts, argue process. I will not entertain further delay.

“The Minority can’t have it both ways: they cannot publicly complain the work is not getting done while privately trying to go beyond the scope of work agreed to, saying ‘go slow and get it done right.’ Unfortunately, that is the dynamic I have been faced with,” Roberts said.