WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House and Senate Leaders
and Intelligence Committee Chairmen sent a letter to the Director of
National Intelligence urging prompt completion of a national intelligence
estimate (NIE) on Iraq first requested by Congress six months ago. Because
it is in the public interest that an unclassified summary of the NIE's key
judgments be made available, they also asked that the intelligence
community provide an unclassified summary, in keeping with the need to
protect intelligence sources and methods.
    Senator Edward Kennedy led the original effort in the Senate last
summer to mandate in law that a new Iraq NIE be written. Regarding today's
letter, Senator Kennedy said, "It's scandalous that the intelligence
community hasn't updated its National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in more
than two years. It's appalling that the President didn't request it before
he announced his latest escalation of the war. The opinion of the
intelligence community matters, and it's essential for the Congress to have
the benefit of its assessment as we debate the war in the weeks ahead. An
unclassified summary of its key conclusions must also be made available to
the American people."
    In the letter, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes,
and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller wrote, "The
upcoming debate on Iraq is an important one for our troops and our country.
The American people have a right to expect that their elected
representatives will be fully informed at the outset of the debate in order
to increase accountability for results and to increase the chances for a
bipartisan consensus on a way forward. . . . It is in this context that we
urge that every effort be made to bring the final deliberations regarding
the NIE to a swift conclusion and that the key judgments of this NIE, like
the previous Iraq NIE, be made available in unclassified form."
    Full text of the letter is below:

                                                              January 23, 2007

    The Honorable John D. Negroponte
    Director of National Intelligence
    Washington, D.C.

    Dear Director Negroponte:
    As you know, last July members of Congress requested an updated
national intelligence estimate (NIE) on Iraq. This request was subsequently
supported by the full House and Senate in the Fiscal Year 2007 Department
of Defense appropriations conference report and signed into law by the
President (P.L. 109-289).
    We were pleased that you directed the intelligence community to produce
a new Iraq NIE. We also appreciate the other Iraq-related intelligence
products and recent briefings and testimony you and your analysts have
provided Congress. However, it now has been six months since we placed the
request for the NIE and the community has yet to complete it.
    We recognize the importance of taking the time needed to prepare a
comprehensive, objective and thoroughly-coordinated estimate. We want your
analysts to provide their best professional judgments and ensure that
alternative and dissenting views are fully laid out. However, Iraq has
properly been at the top of the intelligence community's list of priorities
for quite some time and the community has compiled a considerable body of
work on Iraq before and after our request. We believe the intelligence
community has had more than sufficient time to complete this estimate.
    Since we registered our request, the situation in Iraq has continued to
deteriorate. U.S. troops and the Iraqi people have borne the brunt of this
violence. More than 3,000 Americans have been killed in this conflict and
more than 20,000 injured. According to a recent United Nations report, more
than 30,000 Iraqis were killed just in 2006. In response to this
deterioration and violence, the President recently announced a significant
escalation of U.S. military involvement in Iraq. The events in Iraq and
here at home have triggered a debate in Congress about the merits of the
President's latest proposal and whether it would improve the situation in
Iraq and advance our national security interests around the world. A number
of legislative actions may soon be considered, including the appropriation
of additional taxpayer resources for Iraq that could push total costs for
the war to well over $400 billion.
    The upcoming debate on Iraq is an important one for our troops and our
country. The American people have a right to expect that their elected
representatives will be fully informed at the outset of the debate in order
to increase accountability for results and to increase the chances for a
bipartisan consensus on a way forward.
    It is in this context that we urge that every effort be made to bring
the final deliberations regarding the NIE to a swift conclusion and that
the key judgments of this NIE, like the previous Iraq NIE, be made
available in unclassified form. The Administration has declassified key
intelligence findings on many issues, asserting that declassification in
these instances was in the public interest and did not compromise
intelligence sources or methods. An unclassified summary of the key
judgments of this NIE will be essential to conducting a thorough and
complete debate and we believe it can be produced without jeopardizing our
intelligence capabilities.
    Thank you for your consideration of these requests, and thank you for
your work on behalf of the American people and the men and women of the
intelligence community.
    Sincerely,

    Harry Reid
    Senate Majority Leader

    Nancy Pelosi
    Speaker of the House of Representatives

    John D. Rockefeller IV
    Chairman
    Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

    Silvestre Reyes
    Chairman
    House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

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