Posted on 07/17/2002 9:53:26 AM PDT by kattracks
Three years before terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, senior Clinton administration intelligence managers predicted that a 9-11-style attack would take place, but neither the White House nor any of the agencies charged with guarding America's security acted on the information.
The politically explosive claim is contained in a secret report by the House Intelligence subcommittee titled, "Counter Terror Intelligence Capabilities and Performance prior to 9-11," a summary of which was obtained by NBC News. The report itself "will not be made public," the network said.
"The report cites notes from a meeting of 'senior intelligence managers' that took place three years to the day before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, on Sept. 11, 1998, in which the events of Sept. 11 were more or less predicted," NBC reported late Tuesday.
"The unidentified intelligence officials concluded in 1998 that if they did not improve the way in which data was collected and analyzed, the likely result would be a catastrophic intelligence failure," the network said.
The House subcommittee report focuses primarily on pre-9-11 failures of U.S. intelligence operations, and does not point fingers directly at either current or past administrations.
But the chilling revelation that Clinton officials failed to act on their own eerily prescient intelligence is sure to put the former president's claims that he did all he could to stop Osama bin Laden in a new light.
Thought the report makes no claim that President Clinton himself was briefed on the expected attacks on New York and Washington, it suggests that national security agencies under his direction failed to take the warning seriously.
According to the summary, the report also slams Clinton administration restrictions on intelligence gathering operations implemented in 1995, which banned the CIA from using unsavory chararacters as informants, saying the rules had a "chilling effect" on counterterrorism operations.
More disturbing still, House probers say the same CIA restrictions are still in force, despite a post 9-11 law mandating their abolition.
"As of today, those guidelines have not been rescinded," Committee Chairman Saxby Chambless, R-Ga., said "That's one of the continuing parts of the problem and the puzzle at CIA."
House probers also took aim at the National Security Agency, the government’s largest spy agency, which translates and analyzes global telecommunications and radio traffic. "The report found that the NSA's counterterrorism mission was not given a high enough priority prior to Sept. 11," NBC said.
Ex-President Clinton has repeatedly claimed he tripled the U.S.'s counterterrorism budget, but the report suggests those resources were largely misspent.
There are many cases "where available counterterror resources were misallocated by these agencies," according to the summary.
"The classified record of past years is replete with stern warnings" that spy agencies were diverting badly needed resources meant for intelligence collection and analysis in order "to feed growing headquarters bureaucracies," 9-11 probers said
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
(Just acknowledging this information officially would have had a chilling effect on the overheated economy. Clinton wouldn't let that happen at any cost. Now we know the cost.)
Slick Willie & Algore Rhythym have ALWAYS been out of my Country.
But thanks for the info....verrrrrry interesting.
Commentary, by John Aravosis
I have to admit that I was one of those supremely disappointed by President Clinton. While I'd counted myself a Clinton supporter, the ex-president's never-ending ability to push that support to its limits certainly took its toll. And by the end of his administration, as much as I still admired much of what the man had done in office, I was glad to see Clinton go.
Then I got a chance to meet him last week. And more importantly, so did people from nearly 200 countries.
Clinton and I were both attending the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, and I got to meet him (and a host of other current and former world leaders) in a small room before he went on stage to take part in a panel discussion with other world leaders.
And I have to tell you: In spite of his foibles, people love this guy.
From fierce foreign AIDS activists to hard-nosed American politicos, Clinton had the entire room oozing at his feet. Things got even wilder when he went on stage. The crowd of 2,000 mostly-foreigners erupted with glee every time the former American president spoke.
To some degree this isn't surprising, as people who meet Clinton always speak of the magic. His ability to focus on the person he's speaking to and make them the most important soul on earth. His down-to-earth nature. And his razor-sharp mind. But I still wasn't prepared for what I saw going on in that audience.
While many of his supporters in America have found their exuberance for the ex-president somewhat tempered as a result of the scandals, the foreign audience couldn't get enough of him.
Which raises an interesting issue regarding the war on terror, and the large "problem" of the perception of America in the eyes of the world. I do a lot of traveling, and whenever I go abroad, wherever I go, I hear the same two points whenever foreigners talk about America. They loathe our politics, and really like our people. But with Clinton, the two worlds clearly come together. The world loves the man and his politics. Which got me thinking. No matter what you think of Clinton the man or Clinton the president, in the world's eyes, this man is gold. And if people around the globe adore him so much, why not use him?
So here's my modest proposal: the Bush Administration ought to make Bill Clinton their goodwill ambassador, and use him for as many high-profile foreign missions as they can. And why not start with the Middle East.
Now I'm no fool. I know, at first blush, Bush would sooner choke on a pretzel than embrace Clinton. But that's not the point. America is in a battle for the hearts and minds of the world, much as we were during the 70-year cold war with the Soviets. And it would be irresponsible of us to miss the opportunity to use any of our assets in that war, especially for reasons of personal pique.
Like I said, I know a lot of people will scoff and howl at the prospect of any effort to rehabilitate President Clinton. But America's image could use some help nowadays, and at this point in history, at least, Clinton's got the right stuff. We ought to use it.
link to article
Can someone explain to me how this can be! Has the law not gone into effect yet, and if not, why the delay? Is the CIA dragging its feet in implementing the new law, and if so, why?
The failure of the intelligence community to detect this plot in advance was at least partially responsible for the events of 9/11 (I fully blame the terrorists, but inaction on the part of those who could have stopped it is certainly a factor).
I didn't think it was possible for me to hate Clinton more than I already did, but news like this only adds fuel to the fire and enrages me all over again. His claim that he tripled spending on intelligence is bogus if all the money was spent on bureaucratic excesses, which actually hinder real intelligence gathering out on the street and around the world. The bureaucrats simply make new rules to control agents and place more restrictions on what they can do.
The government has been telling us for decades that the solution to any problem is to throw more money at it, and that has demonstrably failed every time, so why do we still believe it?
Smaller, more efficient government is more effective at accomplishing its constitutional mandates, making the country more free and more secure.
There is such meat here for the "investigative media" Ha ha, to run with, but we won't see it because it reveals just how corrupt the Democrats are. And if the Republicans don't use this against the Democrats, and they probably won't, we won't get the Senate back. Please Marc Racicot, Dubya, take off the gloves!!!
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