Pat Roberts Intelligence Quotations

The committee found no evidence that the intelligence community's mischaracterization or exaggeration of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities was the result of politics or pressure,

unreasonable and largely unsupported by the available intelligence.

It was a world community intelligence failure; we can't let that happen again,

Most alarmingly, after 1998 and the exit of the U.N. inspectors, the CIA had no human intelligence sources inside Iraq who were collecting against the WMD target,

I'm a former Marine, ... I serve on the Armed Services Committee. No bill that I have seen, even the one that I introduced that went even farther than this, had anything to do with doing any harm to tactical intelligence in regards to that war fighter in the field.

I think we ought to be using all of our capabilities in terms of collecting the intelligence we need,

In the bill that was introduced in the Senate, in the bill that I introduced along with some members, we preserve the tactical intelligence part of the equation, ... And so, I hope we can change their minds.

Yet the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, knew of his background. He has a very troubled background.

First, I have the privilege of being Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It is not an oxymoron I assure you.

At the request of my colleagues, ... I have directed staff to examine Undersecretary Bolton's use of intelligence and after careful review, the Senate Intelligence Committee continues to find no evidence of abuse. I am prepared to assist in any reasonable effort to examine the facts, but an examination of upwards of 40 names appears to be an effort to preserve the issue, not to resolve it.

It is my opinion that the administration is also awaiting the report of the independent WMD commission, part of whose job or task is to take a look at the intelligence reform bill and make some recommendations,

That's not the way to run the Intelligence Committee. We have really politicized it, and I think that's most unfair.

I can tell you, however, that the committee has yet to hear from any intelligence official expressing such concerns, ... If any officials believe, however, that they have been pressured to alter their assessment, they have an obligation, and I encourage them to contact the committee.

Before the war, the U.S. intelligence community told the president as well as the Congress and the public that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and if left unchecked would probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade,

While there may have been other bits of information or intelligence that would say, 'Whoa, wait a minute, we need to stop the train,' it never really stopped,

So far, there appears to be no evidence of intelligence personnel that directed any of the abuses, but the investigation does continue to date, and the investigation is open, ... We intend to remain very much engaged.

We have agreed to do what we already agreed to do, ... and that is to complete as best we can phase two of the Intelligence Committee's review of prewar intelligence in reference to Iraq.