March 8, 2005: Robb/Silberman Panel To Report That US Lack of Firm Intelligence on Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program ‘Scandalous’

The New York Times reports that a nine-member bipartisan presidential panel is due to provide President Bush with a classified report describing American intelligence on Iran and North Korea by March 31 (see April 2, 2005). After a 14-month review, the panel, led by Laurence Silberman, a retired federal judge, and Charles S. Robb, a former governor and senator from Virginia, will conclude that US intelligence lacks sufficient intelligence to make firm judgments on Iran’s weapons programs. The Times reports that one of its sources said the “panel’s deliberations and conclusions characterized American intelligence on Iran as ‘scandalous,’ given the importance and relative openness of the country.” [New York Times, 3/9/2005; London Times, 3/10/2005]