United States Senate Select Committee On Intelligence - History

History

The Select Committee on Intelligence was preceded by the Church Committee (1975). Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) became the first chairman of the committee when it was established during the 94th Congress. He kept the chairmanship through the 96th Congress. Senators who have served as chair since Inouye have included Birch Bayh, Barry Goldwater, David L. Boren, Arlen Specter, Richard Shelby, Bob Graham, and Pat Roberts.

Former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet was staff director of the committee when David Boren of Oklahoma was its chairman. The committee was the center of much controversy and contentiousness during the run-up to the war in Iraq in 2002 and 2003, when chairmanship of the committee changed hands following the November 2002 election. Among the committee staff members at that time were:

Pete Dorn, Professional Staff Member; Jim Hensler, Deputy Staff Director; Vicki Divoll, General Counsel; Steven Cash, Professional Staff Member & Counsel; and Alfred Cumming, Minority Staff Director.

On July 9, 2004, the committee issued "Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq", and on June 5, 2008, it issued a long-delayed portion of its "phase two" investigative report, which compared the prewar public statements made by top Bush administration officials to justify the invasion with the intelligence information that was available to them at that time.