WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The Senate is set to call for a fresh National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, setting the stage for a likely gloomy report on U.S. prospects there.
Legislative language, authored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., which is to become part of the Senate version of the must-pass defense appropriation bill, calls for the estimate to be issued within 90 days, according to a statement Thursday from Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the chairman of the powerful intelligence committee.
The statement said the Kennedy language had support from the bill's sponsors in both parties and would become part of the bill before it passes this week.
National Intelligence estimates represent the Intelligence Community's most authoritative judgment on a given national security issue. There has not been one on Iraq since 2004.
Last month, six democrats wrote to the Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, requesting an updated National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.
