The CIA's Biggest Intelligence Failure with Michael Morrell

The Rest Is Classified

Goalhanger

History

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

** Join the Declassified Club at ⁠therestisclassified.com⁠ to listen to the full episode ** ------------------- How did intelligence biases shaped the final WMD assessment? What really happened with Colin Powell’s infamous UN speech? And, was Iraq the biggest intelligence failure in CIA history? Listen as David and Gordon are joined by former acting CIA Director, Michael Morrell, to discuss one of the most controversial episode in the agency’s history, with the man in the room where it happened. ------------------- Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠therestisclassified@goalhanger.com ⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@restisclassified⁠ Social Producer: Emma Jackson Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe Producer: Becki Hills Head of History: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books.
0:13.1	Join the declassified club at the rest is classified.com.
0:17.9	This episode is brought to you by Expedia and Visit Scotland.
0:22.0	Start your story in Scotland.
0:24.3	Experience the pool of wide, untamed landscapes and fresh cuisine that feels rooted in place.
0:31.0	Discover castles steeped in legend.
0:34.0	And feel the genuine warmth from locals you meet in a place that will stay with you long after you leave.
0:40.6	Start planning your own Scottish holiday today at Expedia.co.uk slash visit Scotland.
0:50.7	Welcome everybody.
0:56.4	Club members' new and old secret squirrels, red and gray, to this special bonus episode
1:01.4	of the Declassified Club.
1:02.8	We hope you've had a chance to listen.
1:05.0	You've been enjoying the series which is underway on Iraq and its missing weapons of mass destruction. They're still missing. They're still
1:12.2	missing. It's still out there. Spoiler alert. To go alongside that, we have got some great
1:18.0	interviews with people who were in the room when it all happened. And as well as some Brits, David,
1:23.7	we did think it made sense to have an American along as well, not to make out that this was all a British disaster.
1:29.2	Which it was. Which it was. Which it was. Which it may have been. A very British disaster. I'm sure we'll come to that. And we have one, don't we, David, who is at the heart of the CIA at the time.
1:38.4	We do. We are very lucky to have with us today, Michael Morel, who is the former acting director and deputy director of the
1:45.7	Central Intelligence Agency. Michael spent 33 years at the CIA, and in addition to those roles,
1:52.1	he spent two years as the director of intelligence, the agency's top analyst. Michael's the only
1:56.3	person who was both with President Bush on September the 11th when al-Qaeda burst into the American
2:01.4	consciousness and with President Obama on May 1st when Osama bin Laden was brought to justice.
	...

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