Rep. Pete Hoekstra Calls for Independent Review of Iranian Nuclear Issue

James Phillips / October 06, 2009

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, today urged Congress to establish an independent “red team” of outside experts to examine recent revelations about Iran’s nuclear program and review the conclusions of a controversial 2007 National Intelligence Estimate issued by the U.S. intelligence community, which assessed that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Hoekstra warned that: “New revelations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program are presenting our elected leaders and our intelligence agencies with a crisis of confidence – a crisis that would not exist if they had objectively looked at the evidence about Iran’s nuclear program like the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence did in 2006.” Hoekstra, the former chairman of the committee, complained that:

“Our intelligence analysts seem to be stuck in an analytical rut and unwilling to alter their corporate line on Iran’s nuclear program despite a preponderance of evidence and the fact that America’s allies strongly disagree with their assessment that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was halted in 2003. I propose this problem be addressed by establishing a “red team” of independent experts to challenge the career intelligence analysts’ assessment of the Iranian nuclear program.” (more…)