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Speaking of a revised National Intelligence Estimate released Monday which suggested Iran halted its development of nuclear weapons in 2003, McCain said, "We have a history of not having the greatest intelligence abilities."
McCain's comments came hours after President Bush convened a press conference to explain why his administration has been asserting in recent months that Iran was on the brink of becoming a nuclear power.
"This means we should examine what brought us to previous conclusions that they were developing nuclear weapons," McCain told an audience of 80 C&S employees following a tour of the company's facilities.
McCain said the lapse was likely due to a lack of human intelligence gatherers on the ground in Iran, a situation he said was inexcusable.
"I just want to assure you that as president we will improve our human intelligence capabilities," he said.
Iran is still a threat, McCain said after the forum, but perhaps a different sort of threat.
"I think the Iranians are still sponsoring terrorist organizations, they're still dedicated to the extinction of the state of Israel, they're still exporting these most lethal devices into Iraq, which are killing young Americans," he said. "But there is some,
As McCain toured southwestern New Hampshire Tuesday, the Associated Press released a poll of 446 likely Republican voters conducted by the Pew Research Center last month, which showed McCain battling for second place in New Hampshire.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney held a strong lead with 37 percent, while 19 percent of respondents supported former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and 15 percent supported McCain. Giuliani's lead over McCain was within the poll's 5.5 percent margin of error.
McCain praised C&S' distribution technologies during his visit and said he would seek to enlist their help during times of national emergency.
"As president of the United States we've got to make use of the private sector," he said, arguing that the response to Hurricane Katrina could have been improved had the Federal Emergency Management Agency sought more assistance from the private sector.
In his opening remarks, McCain talked tough on terrorism -- "We gotta get him" -- and said it was critical for America to address growing concerns about climate change.
"I'm not for telling you to shiver in the dark," he said, but he argued that developing renewable energy technology would improve the economy and make the country less dependent on other counties' oil reserves.
McCain spoke bluntly about the Bush administration's contributions to halting global warming, saying they "would be judged harshly" by history.
"As far as what we've done, in two words: not enough, not enough, not enough," he said.
A key way to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, he said, would be to increase the use of nuclear power.
When asked after the forum how he proposed to dispose of high level nuclear waste, McCain said, "My preference is that we store it. I always thought that Yucca Mountain was the right place to do it."
"It's not a problem of technology. It's a problem of political will. We have now the worst of all worlds, because we have nuclear waste sites around every nuclear power plant in America, which provides us with the greatest challenge to our security," he said. "So I would try and resolve it and I would try to go back and revisit the Yucca Mountain issue, but I would do everything in my power to resolve it."
McCain said multinational forces were making progress in Iraq thanks to a troop surge he said he had for years been advocating. He also took great pains to criticize Democratic leaders, saying al-Qaida would be bragging about its victory had the Democrats succeeded in withdrawing American forces from Iraq.
"They were wrong about it being lost militarily and they're wrong about this," he said.
McCain was asked several questions about his stance on immigration, which has drawn fire from some conservatives who disapproved of his efforts in the Senate to broker a deal that would have allowed illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship after a certain period of time.
Acknowledging he had heard the message loud and clear, McCain said he would first secure the nation's borders before attempting to resolve other issues.
"As president, I would have the border state governors certify that the borders are secured, because Americans don't trust the federal government," he said.
When pressed on how he would do so, McCain said he would use a combination of walls along the border and high-tech measures to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country from Mexico.
Asked which president best represented America, McCain said that aside from the founding fathers he most admired Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan -- but most of all he liked Harry Truman.
"Harry Truman was a gutsy old guy," he said. 'He did a lot of courageous things and he told people the truth."
Paul Heintz can be reached at pheintz@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 275.
