Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction
The Iraq Intelligence Commission is a panel created by executive order of U.S. President George W. Bush to investigate United States intelligence, specifically in regards to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The official title of the panel is Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Its mission is, in part, "to ensure the most effective counter-proliferation capabilities of the United States and response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the ongoing threat of terrorist activity." With regards to Iraq, "the Commission shall specifically examine the Intelligence Community's intelligence prior to the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom and compare it with the findings of the Iraq Survey Group and other relevant agencies or organizations concerning the capabilities, intentions, and activities of Iraq relating to the design, development, manufacture, acquisition, possession, proliferation, transfer, testing, potential or threatened use, or use of Weapons of Mass Destruction and related means of delivery." The commission is required to make its report by March 31, 2005.
Commission members are:
- Charles Robb, Democrat, former U.S. Senator and governor of Virginia, co-chair
- Laurence Silberman, Republican, former U.S. Court of Appeals judge, served in Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations, co-chair
- John McCain, Republican, U.S. Senator from Arizona
- Lloyd Cutler, former White House counsel to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
- Patricia Wald, Democrat, former appellate judge.
- Rick Levin, president of Yale University
- Retired Admiral Bill Studeman, former CIA deputy director
- Charles M. Vest, president of MIT
- Henry S. Rowen, forder assistant defense secretary.
The first seven members of the panel were appointed on February 6, 2004, the date of the executive order which created it. The two final members, Vest and Rowen, were appointed on February 13.
Days before the American commission was announced, the government of the United Kingdom, the U.S.'s primary ally during the Iraq War, announced a similar commission to investigate British intelligence, known as the Butler Inquiry.
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