After 9/11, Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith appointed David Wurmser and F. Michael Maloof as a two-person Pentagon intelligence unit, the Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group (CTEG, also known as the Policy Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group). Starting in October 2001, they worked from a 15x15-foot room on the third floor of the Pentagon, reporting to Steven Cambone (Feith's principal deputy). Their mission was to sift through raw CIA intelligence looking for links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. Days after 9/11, they produced a memo suggesting 'hitting targets outside the Middle East in the initial offensive' or 'a non-Al Qaeda target like Iraq.' Critics, including former DIA official Pat Lang, noted that neither Wurmser nor Maloof were trained intelligence professionals. George Packer wrote that they 'were working deductively, not inductively: The premise was true; facts would be found to confirm it.' The CTEG's work was absorbed into the Office of Special Plans in 2002.

A few weeks after September 11, 2001, Douglas Feith created the Policy Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group (CTEG/PCEG), appointing David Wurmser and F. Michael Maloof as its two members. Working from a small office on the third floor of the Pentagon, they used computer software to scan CIA and DIA documents looking for evidence of Iraq-al-Qaeda links that the intelligence community's formal assessments 'played down.' By December 2001, they produced a 150-slide briefing on contacts among al-Qaeda, Iraq, and Iran, which was presented to Vice President Cheney's office and National Security Adviser Rice. The CTEG's work was later absorbed into the Office of Special Plans. The Senate Intelligence Committee investigated whether it 'exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq.'