Senior American officials acknowledged the intelligence setback, but insisted that information was still being collected using a variety of informants on the ground, systems that intercept electronic communications like cellphone conversations and satellite imagery.
Some critics acknowledge the wry intelligence with which Ingels presents his designs but wonder if the work sometimes lacks nuance, or polish, or is too pliant to the needs of powerful clients.
But in their letter, the Democrats urged Mr. Bush to act now to "acknowledge the problems in prewar intelligence".
Second, just as ardent civil libertarians recognize the need for robust intelligence capabilities, those with responsibilities for our national security readily acknowledge the potential for abuse as intelligence capabilities advance, and more and more private information is digitized.
But he acknowledged that the intelligence agencies had not delivered a definitive verdict.
"Rather than acknowledging defeat, the intelligence officers wanted to double down on a failed approach," Eichenwald writes.
Gen. Robert W. Cone of the Army, director of the military's Joint Center for Lessons Learned, acknowledged that the intelligence necessary to carry out attacks like these had not measured up to expectations.
Mr. Juncker, who has spent much of his time in recent years struggling with the crisis in the euro zone, acknowledged that the intelligence service "was not my top priority".
On Friday, Mr. Clapper's office issued an unusual statement, acknowledging that the intelligence agencies "revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists".
Since April 2003, senior American officials have acknowledged that the intelligence reports that placed Mr. Hussein and at least one of his sons in the Mansur district of Baghdad had been regarded as less than solid at the time of that strike.
