9/11 commission to deliver 'stinging rebuke' to FBI and CIA

Draft portions of the September 11 commission’s final report offer a stinging rebuke of the FBI and intelligence agencies, but refrain from assigning blame to individuals in government to avoid the appearance of partisanship, several commissioners say.

The 10-member panel is still wrestling over recommendations to shore up the intelligence gaps and communications breakdowns that allowed the hijackers to succeed, four commissioners have told The Associated Press.

“There’s broad consensus that major changes are needed. This is not just a question of running faster, jumping higher,” said Republican commissioner John Lehman, a former secretary of the Navy.

“We need to ensure the fusion and sharing of all intelligence that could have helped us to avoid 9/11.”

Among the ideas under consideration is a domestic intelligence agency modelled on Britain’s MI5.

Democratic commissioner Timothy Roemer said FBI director Robert Mueller’s recent proposal to improve domestic surveillance by creating an intelligence service within the bureau is another option under review by the panel but might not be enough.

“Certainly there’s consensus the FBI has not done a good job prior to 9/11, and they have a long way to go,” said Roemer, a former congressman.

The commission was established by Congress in 2002 to investigate government mistakes before the attacks and recommend ways to improve the nation’s protection against terrorists.

It has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including President Bush, and reviewed more than two million documents.

The bipartisan panel’s final report is due on July 26. However, portions of it, dealing with factual findings leading up to and including the attacks, already have been drafted and sent to the White House for vetting and declassification, commissioners said.

CIA director George Tenet, former FBI director Louis Freeh and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice have been harshly criticised by some lawmakers and relatives of September 11 victims for not doing more to combat the threat of terrorism.

One example of the FBI’s troubles was seen in the case of 9/11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, who were linked by the CIA to al-Qaida and were found to have entered the United States in summer 2001.

FBI agents involved in the criminal probe couldn’t track the men down because intelligence officials weren’t allowed to share information on the case.

The two would later board American Airlines Flight 77, which slammed into the Pentagon.

Officials with the FBI and CIA declined to comment until agency officials had an opportunity to review the report. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said cooperation between the CIA and FBI on counterterrorism has never been better.

Other sections of the final report will detail the CIA’s failure to recognise the threat posed by al-Qaida.