The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (or INR) is a small bureau in the U.S. State Department tasked with analyzing information for the State Department. Originally founded as the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services [1] and transfered to the State Department at the end of World War II [2], it currently has only 165 analysts (as of 2004), and is around one tenth of the size of the Central Intelligence Agency's analytical arm. Most of INR's analysts are seasoned (some have been on their accounts for 15 years), many come from academia, and are regarded as experts in their fields.
In July 2004, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a scathing report on prewar intelligence on Iraq. The INR was spared the poor performance review that most other intelligence agencies received, and the panel specifically endorsed the dissent that the INR inserted into the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002. The bureau is being studied as a positive example, as Congress debates how to best reform U.S. intelligence agencies in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
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