Good thing I complained to Hampton earlier about finding absolutely nothing interesting to write about today. He sent word that DNI Adm. Dennis Blair is testifying before the Senate Select Committee for Intelligence today, and attached his testimony (.pdf).
As I flipped through it, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d read the passages on pp. 19-20 (i.e., the parts about Iran’s uranium enrichment and weaponization programs) somewhere before. And it turns out I had, because the entire bit is pretty much a word for word copy-and-paste from the 2007 Iran NIE. The very same 2007 Iran NIE that, according to the LA Times (via today’s WPR Media Roundup), the Obama administration had essentially disavowed. It could be that Blair’s oral testimony will clarify exactly how the NIE is no longer considered authoritative. But citing it verbatim into the Congressional record sure seems like an odd way to distance themselves from it.