In a September 5, 2002, meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee, CIA Director George Tenet “was asked what basis there was in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) for a preemptive war against Iraq. ‘We’ve never done a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, including its weapons of mass destruction,’ Tenet replied. Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, was stunned. War loomed on the horizon and Congress couldn’t really know what was going on without an NIE. ‘We do these on almost every significant activity–much less significant than getting ready to go to war,’ he said. ‘We were flying blind.’ Even more astounding, when the Senate asked Tenet for an NIE, the CIA director was reluctant to provide one. ‘We’re doing a lot of other things,’ Tenet said. ‘Our staff is stretched thin.’ ”
– Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Pages 245-246