With an executive order, President Bush created the independent panel, which includes both Democrats and Republicans. He said it is "to look at American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction".

The announcement comes just days after the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq concluded Baghdad probably did not have large stockpiles of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, which the Bush administration used as its main justification for going to war.

The panel's investigation will go beyond Iraq to examine possible intelligence gaps involving other countries that U.S. officials say have been working to obtain weapons of mass destruction, or where terrorists have found haven. The president calls proliferation of such weapons the most serious threat to world peace.

"It will review our intelligence programs on countries such as North Korea and Iran," he said. "It will examine our intelligence on threats posed by Libya and Afghanistan before recent changes in those countries."