Given that President George W. Bush was in office 7 1/2 months at the time of the attack, and that most of the 2nd and 3rd tier officials were not yet confirmed, Ben-Veniste should address his question to the appropriate Clinton Administration hacks.
As for some victims' family members looking to pin something on President Bush, why is that surprising? The New York metro area is very heavily Democrat in political persuasion. It is not at all surprising that at least some family members would look to make partisan political hay out of the atrocity. For some, it would be a twofer: grinding their particular political axe, and salivating over the possibility that they could sue the government for mega-millions.