[kj] OT-Pressure to Distort

sade1 gathering@misera.net
Fri, 27 Jun 2003 14:19:06 -0700 (PDT)


Here's a sample on the pressures at the top...

http://truthout.org/docs_03/062603A.shtml (for Full Text)

(highlights only)
Expert Said to Tell Legislators He Was Pressed to Distort Some Evidence
  By James Risen and Douglas Jehl
  The New York Times
  Wednesday 25 June 2003

Mr. Westermann, officials said, is an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and
Research, a small but important office at the State Department that is intended to provide the
secretary of state with intelligence analysis independent of the C.I.A. and other agencies.
  Mr. Westermann told lawmakers last week that while he felt pressure, he never actually changed
the wording of any of his intelligence reports.
  He did not immediately provide lawmakers with details about his complaints, and it remains
uncertain the degree to which his concerns related to Iraq or other regional issues.
  Administration officials said his most specific complaints concerned issues related to
intelligence on Cuba, and he has not yet provided similar specific complaints about the handling
of intelligence on Iraq. 

  Mr. Westermann, who is in his mid-40's, has worked as a State Department expert on
unconventional weapons for the last several years and is viewed within the department as a careful
and respected analyst of intelligence.

  An administration official said he had served previously as a Navy officer and had not worked
for the C.I.A. or other intelligence agencies.

  Mr. Westermann's decision to speak out has caused a stir inside the House and Senate
intelligence committees … he made it clear that he had felt pressure from John Bolton, the under
secretary of state for arms control and international security, that originally dated to a clash
the two had over Mr. Bolton's public assertions last year that Cuba had a biological weapons
program.



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