Bush Officials Unhappy With CIA Iran Intelligence on Nukes

U.S. News has also learned from U.S. and western officials and analysts of these other developments:

-- Iran has stepped up deliveries of short-range rockets and other military supplies to its terrorist ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, showing its capability to retaliate against Israel. Officers from Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to be present and in command of the rockets.

-- The number of flights between Iran and Syria, an ally, has jumped in recent months, reflecting increased movements of military and intelligence personnel. Iranian officials are seen as wanting to send a signal that Iran can project its power.

-- Air defenses are being increased at nuclear facilities. Also, U.S. intelligence is studying whether Iran's radical Revolutionary Guards are exerting greater influence over the nuclear program at the expense of the country's civilian energy establishment.

-- Iranian officials have been moving billions of dollars from Europe into banks in Dubai and East Asia. This comes as some European banks have been advised by regulators to prepare for sanctions that include the freezing of Iranian accounts.

-- Some Bush administration officials are unhappy with the consensus intelligence community assessment that Iran could attain a weapons capability sometime between 2010 and 2015, based on assumptions about its ability to overcome technical problems. More-hawkish officials view the CIA, scorched by criticism over its exaggerated reports on Iraqi nuclear efforts, as timid on Iran, and Vice President Dick Cheney is said to have recently criticized the intelligence assessment in private as "too cautious."

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