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Republican Senators Say Congressional 9/11 Inquiry Superficial
Senators Fault 9/11 Inquiry as Superficial
Dec 18, 5:44 pm ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks did not delve deeply into the causes of intelligence failures and left key avenues unexplored, some lawmakers involved in the investigation said on Wednesday.
The House and Senate intelligence committees, which jointly held the inquiry, last week issued unclassified findings and recommendations, including creating a Cabinet-level Director of National Intelligence to oversee the 14 spy agencies.
Lawmakers on the committees were allowed this week to file "additional views" to be incorporated into the final report, which is several hundred pages long and highly classified.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, expected to be chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee next year, and Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, in a joint statement criticized the manner and scope of the inquiry.
They complained that most panel members had little input into the way the bipartisan inquiry was conducted or into the final report. It was overseen by the senior Republican and Democrat members on the two intelligence committees.
"While the report should be a useful historical document on which to base further inquiries, we cannot vouch for its contents," their statement said. The report "falls well short of addressing the core problems that led to 9/11" that were rooted in poor policy and inadequate leadership, they said.
"The investigation should have delved more deeply into conflicting interpretations of legal authorities (including presidential directives), budget allocations, institutional attitudes, and other key areas," their statement said.
Rep. Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat who will serve on a new Sept. 11 commission that will conduct a broader review of the government's failings, said one shortcoming of the intelligence inquiry was that the secretaries of State and Defense, the attorney general and the White House national security adviser were not directly questioned. He said the commission's investigation will not be complete without that.
The intelligence inquiry also only "scratched the surface" of investigating financial relationships between extremist groups and foreign governments and that was an issue the national commission must investigate more fully, Roemer said.
The intelligence panel found that charitable contributions from the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States went to a Saudi couple tied to a man who knew two of the hijackers in San Diego.
Kyl and Roberts blamed the government for being unprepared. "Despite repeated assaults on the United States and its interests ... the U.S. government was still unwilling to treat terrorism as a true national security issue until 9/11."
'SOMETHING FOR SHOW'
The U.S. cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan following the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa "smacked of doing something for show, rather than a real attempt to treat the terrorist threat for what it is -- a war," they said.
Better intelligence leadership could have prevented the lack of cooperation between agencies that was prevalent before Sept. 11, the senators said.
The two senators and other panel members who also filed additional views cited the State Department's visa-issuance process as an area that needs greater investigation.
Roberts and Kyl said the Sept. 11 attacks could have been prevented if the State Department had not granted visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia.
"Because the entire culture of the State Department is geared toward facilitating smooth relations with foreign governments, State Department personnel have tended to ignore the potential effect of their practices on national security," the senators said.
Several of the hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, failed to completely fill out their applications which was "ample reason" to deny visas, they said. Only one of the 15 hijackers from Saudi Arabia provided an address in the United States as required, and only three of them provided the name and address of a current employer or school.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, determined that all 19 hijackers had substantial omissions and inconsistencies on their visa applications that should have raised concerns, the senators said.
Pre-Sept. 11 policies at the State Department stressed that applicants from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were exempt from interviews and not required to complete their applications, they said, citing the GAO.
Dec 18, 5:44 pm ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks did not delve deeply into the causes of intelligence failures and left key avenues unexplored, some lawmakers involved in the investigation said on Wednesday.
The House and Senate intelligence committees, which jointly held the inquiry, last week issued unclassified findings and recommendations, including creating a Cabinet-level Director of National Intelligence to oversee the 14 spy agencies.
Lawmakers on the committees were allowed this week to file "additional views" to be incorporated into the final report, which is several hundred pages long and highly classified.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, expected to be chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee next year, and Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, in a joint statement criticized the manner and scope of the inquiry.
They complained that most panel members had little input into the way the bipartisan inquiry was conducted or into the final report. It was overseen by the senior Republican and Democrat members on the two intelligence committees.
"While the report should be a useful historical document on which to base further inquiries, we cannot vouch for its contents," their statement said. The report "falls well short of addressing the core problems that led to 9/11" that were rooted in poor policy and inadequate leadership, they said.
"The investigation should have delved more deeply into conflicting interpretations of legal authorities (including presidential directives), budget allocations, institutional attitudes, and other key areas," their statement said.
Rep. Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat who will serve on a new Sept. 11 commission that will conduct a broader review of the government's failings, said one shortcoming of the intelligence inquiry was that the secretaries of State and Defense, the attorney general and the White House national security adviser were not directly questioned. He said the commission's investigation will not be complete without that.
The intelligence inquiry also only "scratched the surface" of investigating financial relationships between extremist groups and foreign governments and that was an issue the national commission must investigate more fully, Roemer said.
The intelligence panel found that charitable contributions from the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States went to a Saudi couple tied to a man who knew two of the hijackers in San Diego.
Kyl and Roberts blamed the government for being unprepared. "Despite repeated assaults on the United States and its interests ... the U.S. government was still unwilling to treat terrorism as a true national security issue until 9/11."
'SOMETHING FOR SHOW'
The U.S. cruise missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan following the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa "smacked of doing something for show, rather than a real attempt to treat the terrorist threat for what it is -- a war," they said.
Better intelligence leadership could have prevented the lack of cooperation between agencies that was prevalent before Sept. 11, the senators said.
The two senators and other panel members who also filed additional views cited the State Department's visa-issuance process as an area that needs greater investigation.
Roberts and Kyl said the Sept. 11 attacks could have been prevented if the State Department had not granted visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia.
"Because the entire culture of the State Department is geared toward facilitating smooth relations with foreign governments, State Department personnel have tended to ignore the potential effect of their practices on national security," the senators said.
Several of the hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, failed to completely fill out their applications which was "ample reason" to deny visas, they said. Only one of the 15 hijackers from Saudi Arabia provided an address in the United States as required, and only three of them provided the name and address of a current employer or school.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, determined that all 19 hijackers had substantial omissions and inconsistencies on their visa applications that should have raised concerns, the senators said.
Pre-Sept. 11 policies at the State Department stressed that applicants from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were exempt from interviews and not required to complete their applications, they said, citing the GAO.
This occured in 1998. What the hell?
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