National Intelligence Estimate — Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities (PDF; 134 KB)
Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence
From Statement by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence on NIE Key Judgments (PDF; 25 KB):

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Council prepared a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program titled, Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities. NIEs are generated to help U.S. civilian and military decision-makers develop policies to protect national security interests.

The decision to release unclassified conclusions from any NIE is based upon weighing the importance of the information to open discussions about our national security against the necessity to protect classified information and the sources and methods used to collect intelligence. It is also important to ensure that the unclassified judgments accurately reflect the broad strategic framework the NIE is assessing.

The decision to release an unclassified version of the Key Judgments of this NIE was made when it was determined that doing so was in the interest of our nation’s security. The Intelligence Community is on the record publicly with numerous statements based on our 2005 assessment on Iran. Since our understanding of Iran’s capabilities has changed, we felt it was important to release this information to ensure that an accurate presentation is available. While the decision to release the declassified Key Judgments was coordinated in discussion with senior policy makers, the IC took responsibility for what portions of the NIE Key Judgments were to be declassified.

These unclassified Key Judgments are consistent with the findings of this National Intelligence Estimate.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Government and politics, Middle East, Military and defense, National security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.