http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027737099687613.html?mod=hps_us_pageonesnip...
Mr. Fingar was tasked with implementing many of the reforms called for by Congress. This included putting new safeguards into the system to authenticate reports' sources and to prevent intelligence being cherry-picked to support previously developed theories. One of the Iraq NIE's biggest failures was that it drew heavily on an Iraqi defector nicknamed "Curveball" who never met with American intelligence officials and later proved to be a fabricator.
New Systems
Under these new systems, officials from the U.S.'s principal spy agencies, such as the CIA and the National Security Agency, were required to compare every piece of intelligence they collected with how it was reflected in the report. They signed forms stating that the information from their sources was accurately reflected. Analysts also examined a half-dozen alternate explanations for the facts they had gathered to test their conclusions.
Another significant change, Mr. Fingar says, has been reevaluating "our judgments and the sourcing used in previous estimates," rather than just trusting the conclusions of the old intelligence reports.
Mr. Van Diepen, as a co-author of the Iran report, drew on thousands of documents and sources in writing the final estimate and cooperated closely with 20 other officials in the last stages, say people involved in the process. Representatives from all 16 spy agencies ultimately had to sign off on this final version. Outside experts, who were expected to challenge its conclusions, were given a day to analyze the report for flaws.
The result was that the White House was essentially locked out of the process. This marked a big change from the years leading up to the Iraq war, when Mr. Cheney and his top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, made repeated visits to Langley to query analysts about their findings on Iraq's weapons capabilities.
more...
Key paragraph
People in Vice President Cheney's office saw the Dec. 3 announcement as a death blow to their Iran policy. The report's authors "knew how to pull the rug out from under us," says a long-time aide to the vice president, referring to the way the key judgments were presented.
Fascinating and shows the Intel agencies rebelling against BUSH & Cheney
and I must say Fitz getting rid of Scooter must have been a gift to help placate the anger of CIA
He better have convicted him but Cheney and Bush a terrible mistake commuting his sentence I believe much is going on in the background and now Cheney & Bush are pushin the military for help but even there they are getting resistance
Fingar sounds like an American Kudos Mr Fingar
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