WASHINGTON, June 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A ranking U.S. State Department expert on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) said he had been pressed to "tailor" his analysis on different issues to match the views of the U.S. administration, a leading U.S. newspaper revealed Tuesday, June 24, according to several Congressional officials,

The report fueled the controversy over the credibility of the U.S. in drawing up intelligence reports on the world's burning issues, including the failure to provide a hard evidence on Iraqi alleged WMDs.

The analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, identified by several officials as Christian Westermann, became the first member of the intelligence community on active service to make this sort of admission to a House Intelligence Committee in closed-door hearings, The New York Times reported.

Westermann was one of a large group of officials from several intelligence agencies who had been summoned to appear at the opening session of the House intelligence panel's review on Iraq last week.

The Committee was examining questions concerning the Bush administration's handling of prewar reports on evidence that Iraq had illegal weapons and ties to "terrorist" groups.

Addressing the group, Representative Silvestro Reyes, a Texas Democrat, asked whether any of them had felt political pressure in the development of their intelligence reports, which are supposed to be objective.

All of the intelligence officials remained silent - except for Westermann. Staff members from the House and Senate committees have begun to pursue the matter in greater detail with him, the Times quoted Congressional officials as saying.

Westermann's decision to speak out has caused a stir inside the House and Senate intelligence committees, even though he did not go into details and indicated he was not comfortable doing so in front of the large group of officials around him in the House hearing. But he said he was prepared to discuss the matter further.

Administration officials said his most specific complaints concerned issues related to intelligence on Cuba, arguing that the assertions made by John Bolton, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security, were not supported by sufficient intelligence, as similar questions have been raised about whether the administration overstated the threat posed by Baghdad as it made the case for going to war.

"It is now time to re-evaluate U.S. intelligence regarding the amount or existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that country's linkages to terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda," members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told CIA director George Tenet in a letter.

In last week's session, Westermann made it clear that he had felt pressure from that originally dated to a clash the two had over Mr. Bolton's public assertions last year that Cuba had a biological weapons program.

Bolton, for his part, declined to comment on the matter, as the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said Tuesday, "We don't comment on closed hearings, but I can tell you that the secretary and deputy secretary have full confidence in John Bolton."

According to the daily, administration officials said there had been ongoing tensions between the two since the Cuban issue first came up, to the point that Bolton has unsuccessfully sought to have Westermann reassigned.

Westermann is viewed within the department as a careful and respected analyst of intelligence. He has worked as a State Department expert on unconventional weapons for the last several years.

An administration official said he had served previously as a Navy officer and had not worked for the CIA or other intelligence agencies.

A number of analysts at the CIA and other agencies have, in effect, privately complained over the past few months that they felt pressure from administration officials to write reports that they believe overstated evidence that Iraq had illegal weapons programs and terrorist links, The New York Times said.

They said that the pressure they felt came in the form of intensive questioning from senior administration officials, particularly about reports that concluded that there was little evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Other analysts have suggested that they felt less direct pressure on reports concerning the status of Iraq's unconventional weapons, but were angered that senior Bush administration officials selectively disclosed classified intelligence reports that supported the worst-case scenario concerning Iraq's weapons programs, making it seem as if there was an imminent threat to the United States.

The analysts believe that in some cases, White House and Pentagon officials made public statements about Iraq's weapons based on intelligence that was far from definitive.