Q But the heart of the question, though, is, does the President feel, even if it's not 100 percent, that the intelligence that he's getting today is not subject to the second-guessing that this report is coming out with now, on the insufficiency of the intelligence at a crucial time?

MS. PERINO: I think he thinks it is a much improved product, based on the improved processes that have been put in place, where the Director of National Intelligence can find out if there's dissent amongst intelligence professionals, or experts who are out there who might disagree. If you have someone at the CIA who is disagreeing with somebody at NCTC, that is something that maybe before these new processes wouldn't have bubbled up so that everybody could know that there was a concern, that maybe somebody had questions about a key judgment.

So I think that adding that level of -- what is the confidence level of not just the judgments, but also of the sources, is an important way to improve the process and make sure that the President is getting an improved product. And again, I would say that that's not just for this President. President Bush has fundamentally reformed the intelligence community that will serve the next President and future Presidents very well.

Roger.

seen at 09:00, 5 June in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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