Iran NIE Timeline

  • NIE Completed

  • John Negroponte resigns as DNI, reportedly because of fight over NIE; Negroponte would move to become a top official at State

    John Negroponte resigns as DNI, reportedly because of fight over NIE; Negroponte would move to become a top official at State
  • US takes six Iranians in custody after a raid on a diplomatic building in Irbil, Iraq

  • NIE completed; Cheney objecting to content

  • General Ali Reza Asgari arrives in Turkey

    Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Ali Reza Asgari arrives in Turkey; he disappears there, and is presumed to have defected or been kidnapped; in March he was reported to be cooperating with western intelligence
  • Thomas Fingar announces NIE will be delayed due to Ahmadinejad’s demagoguery

  • Cheney meets with Saudi Arabia

  • Intelligence suggests Iran's Nuclear Program remains suspended

    Intelligence community intercepts communications that verify claim Iran’s nuclear program remains suspended; Senior Administration Officials briefed
  • Bush claims he learned new intelligence exists

  • August 9

    Bush substitutes the claim that Iran was seeking nuclear technology for earlier claim that they were seeking nukes. {h/t Froomkin}