David Petraeus,the former general who led the Afghanistan war and now heads the CIA,has ordered his intelligence analysts to give greater weight to the opinions of troops in the fight,US officials said. CIA analysts now will consult with battlefield commanders earlier in the process as they help create elements of a National Intelligence Estimate on the course of the war,to more fully include the military's take on the conflict,US officials say. Their input could improve the upcoming report card for the war. The most recent US intelligence assessment offered a dim view of progress in Afghanistan despite the counterinsurgency campaign Petraeus oversaw there and painted a stark contrast to the generally upbeat predictions of progress from Petraeus and other military leaders. Petraeus has made no secret of his frustration with recent negative assessments coming primarily from the CIA,and said during his confirmation hearing that he planned to change the way the civilian analysts grade wars. The CIA's analysis makes up the bulk of national intelligence estimates,which help guide the White House and Congress in drafting future policy. The CIA says Petraeus' tweaks to the agency's part of the assessment will add to its accuracy,not tilt the results,and that military commanders' views were always part of the equation. "Analytic debate and discussion haven't been chilled; they've been promoted," CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said. The change has been backed by National Intelligence Director James Clapper,another senior US official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the intelligence assessment is classified. Petraeus took over as head of the CIA last month. He was directly in charge of the war in Afghanistan for more than a year his last job in uniform and oversaw the war as the head of Central Command before that. Like Iraq,Afghanistan has become a proving ground for the theories of counterinsurgency Petraeus is credited with making central to current US military doctrine. The previous US intelligence assessment on Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this year contradicted then-war-commander Petraeus' assessment. Where he saw "fragile but reversible progress," the analysts from across the intelligence community largely reported stalemate in several parts of the country.
