It came when Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Colorado began quoting from what he said was an unclassified version of the DIA report, which has not yet been made public.
Representative Lamborn read from the report toward the end of a defense budget hearing.
“They say, ‘DIA assess with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. However, the reliability will be low.’ General, would you agree with that assessment by DIA?” he asked
“I can’t touch that one,” Dempsey answered.
The problem was that the report hasn’t been released, he said. “Some of it’s classified, some of it’s unclassified.”
Lamborn tried asking the question again, heedless of the sensitivity of the topic. “This is public; this is unclassified, so I can make it public.”
“And your question is do I agree with the DIA’s assessment?” Dempsey repeated.
“Yes,” Lamborn responded.
“Well,” Dempsey answered, “You said it’s not publicly released, so I choose not to comment on it.”
