Preemptively disowning the North Korean nuclear intel

The NYTimes has an article on the shenanigans that have been played on North Korea intelligence. The short version of the story is that intelligence officials are quickly backing away from their previous "certainty."

In other words, while the agencies were certain of the initial purchases, confidence in the program’s overall existence appears to have dropped over the years — apparently from high to moderate.

It is unclear why the new assessment is being disclosed now. But some officials suggested that it could be linked to North Korea’s recent agreement to reopen its doors to international arms inspectors. As a result, these officials have said, the intelligence agencies are facing the possibility that their assessments will once again be compared to what is actually found on the ground. “This may be preventative,” one American diplomat said.

So, after years of using the intel to support hostile diplomacy, suddenly, with inspectors getting ready to go back in, the intel backs off. This "unnamed diplomat" (State Dept.) may blame the intelligence agencies, but I would point to the intel heads who are political appointees of the administration.

I guess this does save that embarassing Iraq WMD moment.

And, you're not going to believe this, aluminum tubes....

His report zeroed in on thousands of aluminum tubes that the North Koreans bought and tried to buy in the early 2000s. The C.I.A. and the Bush administration, the report said, pointed to these tubes as the “smoking gun” for construction of a large-scale North Korean plant for the enriching of uranium.....

In the North Korea case, intelligence analysts saw the tubes as ideal for centrifuges. But Mr. Albright said the relatively weak aluminum tubes were suitable only for stationary outer casings — not central rotors, which have to be very strong to keep from flying apart while spinning at tremendous speeds.

How are these guys still in office?

“The question now is whether we would be in the position of having to get the North Koreans to give up a sizeable arsenal if this had been handled differently,” a senior administration official said this week.

Ya think?