9/11 Attack Investigators Complain About Hindrances. Bush
team is dragging its feet on access to papers and is cowing witnesses, they say.
Source
By Greg Miller, Times Staff Writer
LA Times.com
July 9, 2003.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of a federal commission investigating
the Sept. 11 attacks complained Tuesday that the Bush administration has been
too slow to provide access to key documents and is intimidating witnesses by
insisting that CIA and FBI "minders" attend sensitive interviews.
The chairman of the commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, said the
delays are threatening the panel's ability to meet its congressionally imposed
deadline and produce a final report before the 2004 presidential election.
"The coming weeks will determine whether we will be able to do our job
within the time allotted," Kean, a Republican, said during a news
conference billed as an interim progress report. "Time is slipping
by."
Kean and commission Vice Chairman Lee H. Hamilton were particularly critical of
the administration's insistence that interviews with intelligence or law
enforcement officials be supervised.
"The commission feels unanimously it is some intimidation to have someone
sitting behind you all the time," Kean said.
The CIA acknowledged that it requires all interviews with its employees to be
monitored, but denied the practice has any chilling effect.
"It has been the CIA's standing operating procedure for decades," said
CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield. He said the minder is only present to keep a
record of any classified information that is disclosed.
Asked whether the presence of a monitor might discourage witnesses from being
forthcoming, Mansfield said: "We have not heard that from our employees.
They understand the purpose and do not see it that way."
Despite their criticism of the administration, Kean and Hamilton — a former
Democratic congressman from Indiana — said they do not believe the White House
is stonewalling investigators.
And the officials said that in some cases they are getting access to highly
sensitive materials that congressional investigators did not obtain in a
separate Sept. 11 probe that concluded earlier this year.
Kean said the commission has gotten transcripts of interrogations of Al Qaeda
detainees. He declined to identify the prisoners, but a commission official said
the panel has received interrogation records of at least half a dozen top Al
Qaeda operatives now in custody — a group that would include accused Sept. 11
mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and operations organizer Abu Zubaydah.
The commission also is expecting to receive, as early as this week, National
Security Council documents that were not provided to congressional
investigators, Kean said. He declined to elaborate, but acknowledged that the
commission has requested NSC minutes and presidential briefings from the months
leading up to the attacks.
Kean said that in some cases, agencies have been slow to turn over records in
part because they have been caught off guard by the nature and volume of
materials the commission has requested. Some of these records include officials'
private diaries and notes, Kean said.
The commission was created seven months ago and is widely perceived to have
gotten off to a slow start. Tuesday's news conference appeared designed to quiet
such criticism and put fresh pressure on the White House to accelerate the
turnover of records.
The complaints from commission leaders prompted prominent lawmakers on Capitol
Hill, as well as relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, to question
whether the White House is trying to stall until the commission runs out of time
or the presidential election is over.
"This administration has opposed at every turn the creation of an
independent commission to investigate the tragedy of Sept. 11th," said Sen.
Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), a presidential candidate who co-sponsored legislation
creating the panel. "By delaying its response to the commission's
information requests, the administration may now be hoping to run out the
clock."
The White House has dismissed such criticisms, saying it is cooperating fully
with the investigation. Just this week, the administration designated a senior
Justice Department official to expedite handling of requests for information.
The commission's report is due May 27. Kean said members do not plan to seek an
extension.
President Bush initially opposed the creation of the panel, saying it would
distract intelligence agencies in the midst of the war on terrorism. But he
reversed his position after congressional investigators unearthed evidence that
the FBI and CIA had mishandled clues and warnings of the Sept. 11 plot.
Commission officials said they have encountered obstacles at numerous agencies.
The Justice Department, they said, has sought to block access to a number of
important files on the grounds that turning over the records might contaminate
the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only suspect charged in direct
connection with the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
And Hamilton was particularly critical of the Pentagon, saying the panel has not
received responses to requests for information from the North American Aerospace
Defense Command, which is responsible for patrolling skies over the United
States.
Hamilton said the CIA has been helpful in arranging briefings, but has been
"slower in producing the internal documents that we have requested on
management and resource choices in the pre-Sept. 11 war on terrorism."
That topic became a critical issue in last year's congressional hearings, with
key lawmakers contending that the agency had done little to mobilize against Al
Qaeda despite a memo from CIA Director George J. Tenet declaring "war"
on the terrorist organization.
The commission itself has been beset with problems. The administration's first
choice as chairman, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, was forced to
bow out when he refused to disclose certain financial and business records.
And members of the panel complained for months after its inception that it
wasn't moving quickly enough to get them security clearances and access to
classified records of the congressional inquiry.
But Kean said those problems have been solved, and that with a staff of 60 and a
$14-million budget, the commission can meet its deadline and produce a
substantial report if it gets adequate cooperation from the administration. He
said the commission plans another report in September.
Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times
