WMD report released | 03.31.2005 | 11:01:28 | Views: 5473 | ID: March 31 '05: America's spy agencies were "dead wrong" when it came to information that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a presidential commission said on Thursday. The report also said the United States knew "disturbingly little" about many of the people, organizations or groups who wanted to do harm to the country, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. The "scathing report," the AP wrote, "recommended dozens of organizational changes." Furthermore, it said, "President Bush could implement most of them without congressional action," as well as broaden the powers of the new director of national intelligence, the AP reported. The BBC quoted the report that in addition to the report's criticism of past intelligence, the US "still know[s] disturbingly little about the weapons programs and even less about the intentions of many of our most dangerous adversaries." Those adversaries, the BBC commented, were not named, though it is certain, according to top US officials that North Korea and Iran are apart of that group. Reuters quoted the report saying, "The flaws we found in the intelligence community's Iraq performance are still all too common." The New York Times added that: "The report also contends that the government has failed to respond to the dire threat posed by unconventional weapons with the urgency and national purpose displayed after the Japanese attack on Peral Harbor." In response to the report, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that the report was welcomed in the White House: "We're going to carefully review each recommendation," he said, "and we will act on those recommendations in a fairly quick period of time." Reuters added: "The White House has acknowledged intelligence shortcomings - national security advisor Stephen Hadley called data on Iran 'hard to come by' - but the administration has made it clear it stands by its policy of preemption. CNN reported that among one of the strongest recommendations the report gave is to have a "stronger and more centralized management of the intelligence community, and, in general, the creation of a genuinely integrated community, instead of a loose confederation of independent states." The commission was co-chaired by retired Judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, and formcer Democratic Senator from Virginia, Charles Robb.
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