NIE on Iran

The LAT has a piece in today's newspaper, by lined Greg Miller, on the intelligence agencies' flip flop on Iran. It's based mostly on anonymous sources so it's any one's guess how reliable it is. Still, it doesn't appear to be biased in any particular direction. It does leave the impression that the intelligence agencies don't know which end is up. One source in the piece said the recent report may be an indication of a pendulum swing, from overstatement of threats during the lead up to the Iraq war to understatement now. If that's the case, the NIE may be worthless. Whatever happened within the agencies, the flip flop does not inspire confidence in the NIE.