[House Report 108-168]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                                       
108th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    108-168

======================================================================



 
 REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT TO TRANSMIT TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DOCUMENTS OR OTHER MATERIALS IN THE PRESIDENT'S POSSESSION RELATING TO 
                   IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

                                _______
                                

   June 23, 2003.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Hyde, from the Committee on International Relations, submitted the 
                               following

                             ADVERSE REPORT

                             together with

                            DISSENTING VIEWS

                       [To accompany H. Res. 260]

    The Committee on International Relations, to whom was 
referred the resolution (H. Res. 260) requesting the President 
to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 
days after the date of the adoption of this resolution 
documents or other materials in the President's possession 
relating to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, having 
considered the same, reports unfavorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the resolution not be agreed to.

                           TABLE OF CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     2
Correspondence from the Intelligence Committee...................     2
Background and Need for the Legislation..........................     3
Hearings.........................................................     5
Committee Consideration..........................................     5
Vote of the Committee............................................     5
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     5
New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures....................5
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................5 deg.
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     5
Constitutional Authority Statement...............................     5
New Advisory Committees..........................................     5
Congressional Accountability Act.................................     5
Federal Mandates.................................................     6
Dissenting Views.................................................     7

                          Purpose and Summary

    House Resolution 260, a resolution of inquiry, requests the 
President to transmit to the House of Representatives not later 
than 14 days after the date of the adoption of the resolution 
documents or materials in the President's possession relating 
to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

             Correspondence from the Intelligence Committee

                         Permanent Select Committee
                                   on Intelligence,
                             U.S. House of Representatives,
                                     Washington, DC, June 16, 2003.
Hon. Henry J. Hyde, Chairman,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to inform you that the 
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) voted 
on Thursday, June 12, 2003 to permit Members of the House who 
wish, under appropriate security conditions and House Rules, to 
review certain documents provided to the HPSCI by the Director 
of Central Intelligence (DCI). The documentation at issue is 
that which the DCI provided to the HPSCI in response to the May 
22, 2003 letter from the two of us. A copy of that letter is 
enclosed with this correspondence. Specifically, we requested 
detailed information from the Intelligence Community on the 
questions relating to Iraqi WMD and Iraq's ties to terrorist 
groups.
    Please let me know if the HPSCI can be of any assistance to 
the Committee on International Relations in this matter.
            Sincerely,
                                  Porter J. Goss, Chairman,
                             Jane Harman, Ranking Democrat.

Enclosure: As described
                              ----------                              


                         Permanent Select Committee
                                   on Intelligence,
                             U.S. House of Representatives,
                                      Washington, DC, May 22, 2003.
Hon. George J. Tenet,
Director of Central Intelligence,
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC.
    Dear Director Tenet: The House Permanent Select Committee 
on Intelligence (HPSCI) believes that it is now time to 
reevaluate US intelligence regarding the amount or existence of 
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and that country's 
linkages to terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida. As you know, 
the existence of--and danger posed by--WMD in Iraq and the 
concern that these capabilities could be transferred to 
terrorists groups remains of vital interest. The Committee 
wants to ensure that the intelligence analysis relayed to our 
policymakers from the Intelligence Community (IC) was accurate, 
unbiased, and timely--in light of new information resulting 
from recent events in Iraq.
    The Committee is interested in learning, in detail, how the 
intelligence picture regarding Iraqi WMD was developed and 
would appreciate your answers to the following questions: Were 
sources and methods that contributed to the community's 
analysis on the presence and amount of WMD in Iraq of 
sufficient quality and quantity to provide sufficient accuracy? 
How was information disseminated and what lines of analysis 
developed? Did the analytic assessment change over time? If so, 
please explain how analytic conclusions shifted based on what 
and when. In addition, did components of the IC or internal 
elements of IC agencies express dissenting analytic 
perspectives? If so, were those dissenting views properly 
weighed and why was that analysis determined to be inaccurate?
    The Committee is also interested in understanding how the 
CIA's analysis of Iraq's linkages to terrorists groups, such as 
al-Qaida, was derived. The Committee would like to know if that 
analysis changed over time, what analytic conclusions were 
provided to policymakers, including to Defense Secretary 
Rumsfeld, regarding the presence of al-Qaida in Iraq, and how 
the IC coordinated this analysis?
    We look forward to your response by 1 July 2003.
            Sincerely,
                                  Porter J. Goss, Chairman,
                             Jane Harman, Ranking Democrat.

                Background and Need for the Legislation

    House Resolution 260 is a resolution of inquiry, which 
pursuant to rule XIII, clause 7, of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, directs the Committee to act on the resolution 
within 14 legislative days, or a privileged motion to discharge 
the Committee is in order. H. Res. 260 was introduced and 
referred to the Committee on International Relations on June 5, 
2003, and was ordered reported unfavorably by the Committee on 
June 17, 2003.
    Under the rules and precedents of the House, a resolution 
of inquiry is the means by which the House requests information 
from the President of the United States or the head of one of 
the executive branch departments. According to Deschler's 
Procedure, it is a ``simple resolution making a direct request 
or demand of the President or the head of an executive 
department to furnish the House of Representatives with 
specific factual information in the possession of the executive 
branch.''
    On June 5, 2003, Mr. Kucinich of Ohio introduced H. Res. 
260, a resolution of inquiry requesting the President to 
transmit to the House of Representatives documents in the 
President's possession relating to Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction.
    The resolution requests that the President transmit to 
Congress ``specific evidence'' for 10 claims by senior 
administration officials ``relating to Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction.'' These officials include the President (three 
statements), Vice President (two statements), Secretary of 
Defense (three statements), and ``the White House 
spokesperson'' (two statements).
    Prior to the introduction of the pending resolution, on May 
22, 2003, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
(HPSCI) formally initiated a more comprehensive review of these 
issues than could occur in response to the simple production of 
documents and material as called for in H. Res. 260. Chairman 
Porter Goss and Ranking Democrat Jane Harman wrote to the 
Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) ``that it is now time to 
reevaluate U.S. intelligence regarding the amount or existence 
of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and that country's 
linkages to terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda.''
    Requesting that the DCI respond by July 1, 2003, the HPSCI 
says it intends to ``ensure that the intelligence analysis 
relayed to our policymakers from the Intelligence Community was 
accurate, unbiased, and timely.'' Its broad review will include 
an evaluation of the quality and quantity of sources and 
methods, an assessment of how and what analysis developed and 
whether it changed over time, and a study of any dissenting 
views that were developed in the intelligence community.
    In a press release of June 12, 2003, Chairman Goss and 
Ranking Member Harman announced their ``bi-partisan 
commitment'' to continue the HPSCI's ``serious, focused, and 
comprehensive review'' of these issues, and provide additional 
details on how they plan to do so. They note that the DCI has 
offered the full cooperation of the Intelligence Community to 
assist the HPSCI in its review. In fact, the DCI has already 
begun to provide a significant volume of information, 
containing highly classified information, to the HPSCI. It was 
done weeks ahead of the requested date of July 1.
    The HPSCI plans to continue its oversight of these 
intelligence issues as it has conducted oversight through the 
years. It will hold committee hearings, closed and open, as 
appropriate.
    Most importantly in terms of evaluating the necessity of 
the request set out in H. Res. 260, however, is that the HPSCI 
voted to grant, under appropriate security conditions and House 
Rules, access to any Member of the House who wishes to review 
the documentation provided to the HPSCI by the DCI in response 
to its letter of May 22, 2003. The HPSCI Chairman and Ranking 
Member recently forwarded to the Chairman and the Ranking 
Member of the House International Relations Committee a copy of 
their May 22 request and informed the committee of HPSCI's vote 
granting access to Members of the House.
    The DCI's ongoing and timely transmittal of relevant 
intelligence information to the HPSCI and the HPSCI's vote 
granting access to the information to any Member of the House 
render moot as a matter of substance this resolution of 
inquiry. The HPSCI is especially well-suited to handle these 
highly classified documents and conduct this review. For the 
International Relations Committee to duplicate the HPSCI 
efforts in collecting the same documents would be a needless 
duplication of effort. It is not in the interest of the 
International Relations Committee nor the Congress to collect a 
second set of intelligence documents relating to these matters. 
Any Member who avails himself or herself of the opportunity to 
see the materials HPSCI is collecting will see at least the 
same materials that would be produced under this resolution, 
and in all probability more.
    The documents and material being collected by the HPSCI are 
available for review by Members, consistent with House Rule 
XXIII, the Code of Official Conduct, which governs access by 
Members to classified information.
    Because the HPSCI is in the process of collecting the 
documents and materials relating to Iraq's weapons of mass 
destruction, and the HPSCI voted to grant Members of the House 
access to the documents, the Committee deemed the resolution to 
be moot and accordingly ordered it reported unfavorably.

                                Hearings

    The Committee did not hold hearings on H. Res. 260.

                        Committee Consideration

    On June 17, 2003, the Committee met in open session and 
ordered unfavorably reported the resolution of inquiry H. Res. 
260 without amendment by a record vote of 23 ayes to 15 noes, 
with 3 voting ``present.''

                         Vote of the Committee

    A motion to report H. Res. 260 unfavorably to the House was 
agreed to by a record vote of 23 ayes to 15 noes, with 3 voting 
``present.''

          Voting yes: Hyde, Leach, Bereuter, Burton, Gallegly, 
        Ros-Lehtinen, Ballenger, Royce, King, Chabot, Houghton, 
        McHugh, Tancredo, Smith (MI), Pitts, Flake, Davis, 
        Green, Weller, Pence, McCotter, Janklow, Harris
          Voting no: Ackerman, Menendez, Sherman, Wexler, 
        Engel, Delahunt, Lee, Crowley, Hoeffel, Blumenauer, 
        Berkley, Napolitano, Schiff, Watson, Bell
          Voting ``present'': Rohrabacher, Paul, Faleomavaega

                      Committee Oversight Findings

    The Committee held no oversight activities under clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives.

               New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures

    Clause 3(c)(2) of House Rule XIII is inapplicable because 
H. Res. 260 does not provide new budgetary authority or 
increased tax expenditures.

                    Performance Goals and Objectives

    The rule requiring a statement of performance goals and 
objectives is inapplicable.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee finds the authority for 
this resolution in article I, section 1 of the Constitution.

                        New Advisory Committees

    H. Res. 260 does not establish or authorize any new 
advisory committees.

                    Congressional Accountability Act

    H. Res. 260 does not apply to the legislative branch.

                            Federal Mandates

    H. Res. 260 provides no Federal mandates.
                            Dissenting Views

    When H. Res. 260 came before this committee, members faced 
three options: to report the resolution unfavorably, to report 
it favorably, or to report it without recommendation. By 
choosing to make an unfavorable recommendation, the majority of 
this committee sent a message to the American people that the 
important questions raised in this resolution of inquiry were 
not worth pursuing.
    H. Res. 260 posits a number of questions that are, in fact, 
of vital interest to this committee, Congress, and the American 
public. It calls on the Administration to provide documentation 
substantiating a series of claims made by the President, Vice 
President, and other officials last fall regarding their 
certainty as to Iraq's possession of weapons of mass 
destruction.
    The Administration is in the process of providing much of 
this information to the Select Committees on Intelligence, and 
Members of Congress have been granted access to independently 
review the tens of thousands of documents that are expected to 
arrive.
    That very volume, however, will make it extremely difficult 
for individual members to uncover answers to these questions. 
Nor does this mechanism provide any public accounting: the 
American people have a right to know the answers, although much 
specific intelligence information will obviously need to remain 
classified.
    Moreover, questions of war and peace fall very much within 
the domain of the Committee on International Relations. That is 
why H.J. Res. 114, authorizing the use of force against Iraq, 
came before this committee and was reported out on October 3, 
2003. Furthermore, multiple referrals on matters of overlapping 
jurisdiction among committees are routine within the operating 
procedures of the House of Representatives. It is the hope of 
the undersigned that this committee will continue to explore 
pre-war U.S. policy with Iraq and the events and decisions that 
contributed to that conflict.
    The questions raised in this resolution deserve a non-
partisan, public accounting that still observes all necessary 
security precautions. By reporting this resolution unfavorably, 
however, the International Relations Committee sends a signal 
to the American public that growing reports that pre-war 
intelligence may have been slanted to suit a particular 
interpretation or otherwise distorted or less complete than was 
presented are unworthy of congressional scrutiny. Such is not 
the case, and therefore we respectfully offer our dissent from 
the majority report and express our opposition to the decision 
to report this resolution of inquiry unfavorably.

                                   William D. Delahunt.
                                   Barbara Lee.
                                   Gary L. Ackerman.
                                   Donald M. Payne.
                                   Robert Menendez.
                                   Sherrod Brown.
                                   Robert Wexler.
                                   Eliot L. Engel.
                                   Joseph M. Hoeffel.
                                   Earl Blumenauer.
                                   Grace F. Napolitano.
                                   Diane E. Watson.
                                   Betty McCollum

                                
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