Much intelligence is partial, fragmentary.
Indeed much intelligence is deemed too sensitive to be included in written assessments by other ministries.
Doing so, he said, would show the world how much valuable intelligence was obtained by subjecting detainees to forced nudity, prolonged sleep deprivation, slamming against walls, extremes of heat and cold and the near-drowning known as waterboarding.
Instead, he criticized the prime minister for yielding to calls for a new inquiry only after Mr. Bush announced that such an inquiry was necessary after testimony from the American weapons specialist David A. Kay, who resigned from the weapons hunt in Iraq and conceded that much prewar intelligence was wrong, although he supported the aim of removing Mr. Hussein.
How much of the intelligence was wrong and why?
On Tuesday, The New York Times and The Washington Post each carried front-page articles reporting that much of the intelligence was at least three years old, and then on Wednesday those newspapers reported that senior government officials said there was more recent intelligence pointing to a current threat.
For Mr. Downie of The Post, the decision to devote so much space to articles seeking to explore every possible effect and nuance of the warnings -- from how they would affect access to Washington landmarks, to how much of the intelligence was new -- was an easy one.
In truth, though, his aphoristic intelligence was much keener, his eye much sharper, his judgment of others generally shrewder than that of most of his fellows, Wilson included.
Much military intelligence is gathered by military attachés, who have formal diplomatic status but are known to be mainly concerned with intelligence.
Most of us don't consider how much sensing intelligence is packed into a smart phone.
