On December 12, 2007, the American Foreign Policy Council hosted a Congressional briefing on U.S. Iran policy on Capitol Hill. The event, which followed the release of the U.S. intelligence community’s new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran, provided an opportunity for Republican and Democratic members of Congress to weigh in on the controversial intelligence assessment and its implications for U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic.
Participants included six Members of Congress from both sides of the political aisle: Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nontelligence; Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), a member of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade; Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member; Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence; Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), a member of the House Armed Services Committee; and Congresswomen Diane Watson (D-CA) and Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Nonwithstanding a variety of opinions regarding future policy, a consensus was formed on the need to take a second look at the NIE’s conclusions and presumptions. Participants highlighted past lapses in the intelligence community’s predictive capabilities, and concerns over an accurate understanding of Iranian intentions. As a result, the majority of speakers stressed the need for greater investments in Human Intelligence (HUMINT) capabilities by the intelligence community.
