Bureau of Intelligence and Research

The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is an intelligence bureau in the U.S. State Department tasked with analyzing information. Originally founded as the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, it was transferred to the State Department at the end of World War II. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research is part of the United States Intelligence Community, of which there are 16 branches. The current number of employees and its budget is classified. The Bureau is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. In July 2004, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a scathing report on prewar intelligence on Iraq. INR was spared the poor performance review that most other intelligence agencies received, and the panel specifically endorsed the dissent that 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.