WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today announced the Committee made significant progress in completing the second phase of its inquiry into prewar intelligence related to Iraq. The Committee approved the findings of fact and conclusions of the first two of the Phase II reports. The Chairman issued the following statement:

"From our work, the American public will gain greater insight into – and an understanding of – the postwar findings about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs and the Hussein regime’s links to terrorism – and most important – how those findings compare with the assessments that were made leading up to war," Chairman Roberts said.

"Additionally, the public will learn more about the use by the Intelligence Community of information provided by the Iraqi National Congress, otherwise known as the INC.

"Taken together, I believe the American people will have a better view of the intelligence which contributed to the decision-making that led us to war.

"The public won’t have to listen to the political ‘he said-she said’ – which certainly abounds in an election year.

"Once these reports are declassified, Americans can read for themselves the facts and the conclusions that the 15 members of this committee came to after a painstakingly thorough review and analysis.

"And that is my goal in this whole process. I want the information to be transparent so that individual citizens can read and judge for themselves – without the filter of the media, or the pundits, or those who are predisposed in their views based on politics.

"With today’s vote, we now move very aggressively to declassify the reports for public view.

"And I want to issue a very serious warning here: as Chairman, I have been disappointed by this Administration’s unwillingness to declassify material contained in these reports; material which I believe better informs the public, but that does not – I repeat, does not – jeopardize intelligence operations, sources and methods.

"I have told this Administration that I expect minimal redactions to these reports so that there are no questions about the facts or how members of the Senate Intelligence Committee came to their conclusions – and I am telling them now that I will not tolerate a report which is overly redacted.

"It is my intention that the reports, findings of fact, conclusions, and the additional views of Members will be declassified to the greatest extent possible so that, once again, the American people will have full access to the information and reasoning behind each Member’s conclusion or additional view. To achieve this objective this Administration must lean forward with respect to declassification.

"At the request of Vice Chairman Rockefeller, I have agreed to wait until the Senate returns in September for the Committee to vote to release these two reports to the public. During the recess, I expect the Administration to work diligently to complete the declassification of these reports.

"This Committee will not settle for anything less. Neither will the American public.

"At the same time, the Intelligence Committee continues its work on the other elements of the report. We will do so in the same thorough manner and we will complete the work when the Members agree that it is completed. I have said time and time again, national security is too important to be a pawn in a political fight. We will work to uncover the facts – and reach fact-based conclusions – as quickly as our thorough process will allow.

"Finally, I will note that the work of this Committee does not and will not stop here. The nation remains at war and terrorists continue to threaten the homeland. There is war in the Middle East; Iran is seeking nuclear weapons; North Korea remains a threat; and there is continued violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. On behalf of the American people, it is the job of the Intelligence Committee to ensure that our Intelligence agencies are provided with and are using the appropriate tools to counter these threats."