Skip to main content
CNN.com International
The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ON TV
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Inside Politics

Last two members join WMD panel

Questions linger about prewar intelligence on Iraq

President Bush says he wants U.S. intelligence to be as
President Bush says he wants U.S. intelligence to be as "accurate as possible."

Story Tools

more video VIDEO
Investigating intelligence failures regarding Saddam's WMD capabilities.
premium content

President Bush names members of a panel to probe intelligence failures.
premium content

CIA Director George Tenet defends prewar intelligence.
premium content
SPECIAL REPORT
• Interactive: Who's who in Iraq
• Interactive: Sectarian divide
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.

Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.

WASHINGTON CNN) -- Two academic leaders were named Thursday by the White House to join a bipartisan commission charged with investigating prewar intelligence on Iraq.

They are Charles M. Vest, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Henry S. Rowen, an emeritus professor of public policy and management at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

The two join seven others named last week by Bush to look into apparent intelligence failures on Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities.

Leading into the war, Bush and administration figures said Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction, but no such stockpiles have been found in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.

The panel, Bush said, will also examine U.S. intelligence on weapons programs in other countries, such as North Korea and Iran.

At last week's news conference, Bush said he is "determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future."

The panel has been criticized by Democrats because all of the appointments have been made by the White House and because its findings are not due until March 31, 2005 -- after the upcoming general election.

The panel is co-chaired by former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman, a conservative who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and former Sen. and Gov. Chuck Robb of Virginia, a Democrat.

Other members include:

• Lloyd Cutler, who served as White House counsel to Presidents Carter and Clinton.

• Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.

• Former appellate court judge Pat Wald, a Democrat.

• Rick Levin, president of Yale University, Bush's alma mater.

• Retired Adm. Bill Studeman, a former deputy director of the CIA.

Vest, according to the White House, chaired the U.S. Department of Energy Task Force on the Future of Science Programs from 2002 to 2003.

During the Clinton administration, he chaired the President's Advisory Committee on the Redesign of the Space Station, and from 1994 to 2001 he served as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

He has been president of MIT since 1990.

Rowen served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 1989 to 1991, chairman of the U.S. Intelligence Council from 1981 to 1983, and deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 1961 to 1964, the White House said.

He was appointed a professor at Stanford in 1972, and was named a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1983.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.


Story Tools
Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! cover
Top Stories
Panel: Spy agencies in dark about threats
Top Stories
EU 'crisis' after summit failure
 
 
 
 

CNN US
On CNN TV E-mail Services CNN Mobile CNN AvantGo CNNtext Ad info Preferences
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.