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Congress launches Sept. 11 investigation
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Friday, February 15, 2002
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — Congress launched a full-scale investigation Thursday into why U.S. intelligence agencies failed to detect the Sept. 11 plot, with lawmakers vowing to leave no stone unturned in pursuit of answers and in assigning blame.
The House and Senate intelligence committees took the unusual step of agreeing to conduct a joint investigation as the least disruptive method at a time of war, so testimony and information would not have to be presented twice separately.
The investigation will review intelligence failures past and present to establish remedies for the future.
The goal was “to ascertain why the intelligence community did not learn of the Sept. 11 attacks in advance,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., said.
“We wish to identify any shortcomings in our intelligence community and fix those problems as soon as possible,” Graham said at a press conference.
Former CIA Inspector General Britt Snider was hired to conduct the review over objections by some lawmakers that he was too closely tied to the spy agency and CIA Director George Tenet to have an impartial role.
Snider addressed those concerns with the lawmakers and assured them that would not be a problem.
“I am coming out of retirement because I think it is important,” he told reporters. “That’s my sole motivation — to make it work and dig out the facts.”
While there was no set timetable for the start of hearings or completion of the final report, the committees have requested a total of $2.6 million to fund the investigation for a year until Feb. 28, 2003, Graham said.
The investigation has the support of the House and Senate leadership, and the administration has pledged to cooperate by making documents and individuals available, he said.
Asked whether blame would be assigned, Graham responded: “We will let the chips fall where they may.”
‘We can bat better’
More than 3,000 people were killed Sept. 11 when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and toppled its twin towers, one plane hit the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The United States blamed Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the attacks and launched a bombing campaign on Afghanistan Oct. 7 to destroy them and oust their Taliban protectors.
Calling Sept. 11 “one of the greatest days of infamy in this country,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss said the investigation was aimed at making sure the United States was better prepared in the future.
“I think we’ve all learned there is no such thing as 100-percent guarantees about anything, but surely we can bat better than we did on Sept. 11,” the Florida Republican said.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby said the inquiry would evaluate what lessons had been learned from a string of past attacks including the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, and the attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen.
Asked whether he was concerned that the United States had been unable to find bin Laden, the Alabama Republican said he believed the militant was still alive. “I’m not as concerned about that as I am about our strategic failures, because ultimately I believe we will find him,” he said.
Shelby, who has been a sharp critic of Tenet, reiterated that the CIA director should be held accountable.
“As far as George Tenet is concerned, I believe you are accountable for what you do on your watch. But as I said in the beginning, that is the president’s call, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said.
Goss acknowledged there were stacks of reports on the shortcomings of intelligence agencies and recommended fixes.
“Many of these fields have been plowed; it’s a question of pulling it together,” Goss said.
