Tenet: Vacationing Bush Not Told of 9/11 'Clue'

Reuters via Drudge ^ | Wed Apr 14, 2004 02:33 PM ET | Tabassum Zakaria

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Wed Apr 14, 2004 02:33 PM ET

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the CIA never informed a vacationing President Bush in August 2001 that a suspected Islamic extremist had been detected taking flight lessons, the panel investigating the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks on New York and Washington heard on Wednesday.

As several commission members criticized what they called a complete intelligence failure ahead of the attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed, CIA Director George Tenet also said it would take another five years of restructuring to bring U.S. intelligence to the level the country needs.

Commissioner Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, asked Tenet if he had ever mentioned to Bush the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui in mid-August 2001 after he had been detected behaving suspiciously in a Minnesota flight school.

Tenet said he had not spoken to the president at all that month, when Bush was staying at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Nor did he bring it to the attention of other senior officials, saying it was "not appropriate."

"He's in Texas and I'm either here or on leave for some of that time," he said. "In this time period, I'm not talking to him, no."

After Moussaoui's arrest, Tenet and other top CIA officials received a briefing headed, "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly."

But the CIA director did not bring it up at a meeting of top administration officials to discuss Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization on Sept. 4, a week before the attacks.

"It wasn't discussed at the principals' meeting since we were having a separate agenda," Tenet said. "All I can tell you is just it wasn't the appropriate place. I just can't take you any farther than that."

Moussaoui, who was originally detained for immigration violations, was later charged with conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, and faces a possible death penalty if convicted.

A commission staff report issued at the start of the day's hearings on the attacks said the United States had developed defenses against surprise military strikes after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 but never applied them to potential terrorist threats.

"With the important exception of attacks with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, the methods developed for decades to warn of surprise attacks were not applied to the problem of warning against terrorist attacks," the report said.

TOUGH QUESTIONS

Tenet came under tough questioning, with Republican commissioner John Lehman calling the staff report a "damning evaluation of a system that is broken." Other commission members spoke of the need for an intelligence "revolution."

But Tenet said the report was wrong to state he had no strategic plan to manage the war on terrorism or to integrate and share data across the intelligence community.

However, he did acknowledge that his and other agencies failed to devise an effective defense against bin Laden's al Qaeda operatives in 2001.

"We all understood bin Laden's attempt to strike the homeland. We never translated this knowledge into an effective defense of the country," Tenet said. "No matter how hard we worked, or how desperately we tried, it was not enough. The victims and the families of 9/11 deserved better.

"It will take us another five years to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs."

The bipartisan commission, which is due to report to the nation in July at the height of the presidential campaign, has issued a series of highly critical reports on what it sees as a succession of failures leading up to the attack.

A second staff statement issued on Wednesday said that despite efforts to overhaul the system since Sept. 11, "it is clear that gaps in intelligence sharing still exist ... We found there is no national strategy for sharing information to counter terrorism."

Democratic commissioner Bob Kerrey said he had heard a long string of excuses from current and former senior policymakers, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He disclosed that the CIA knew by 1996 that bin Laden operatives had shot down a Black Hawk helicopter over Mogadishu in 1993 in a battle in which 18 U.S. troops were killed.

The earlier staff report said there were many reports on bin Laden and his growing al Qaeda network during the 1990s, but no comprehensive estimate of the organization was ever compiled by the intelligence agencies,

U.S. officials insist there was no single piece of information that would have revealed the plot in time to stop it. But the commission staff report said the CIA failed to foresee or analyze how a hijacked aircraft or other explosives-laden aircraft might be used as a weapon.

[dirtboy]

So now the Dem spin is that 9/11 happened because Bush was in Crawford for a month.

[EllaMinnow]

I heard last night that Tenet had later checked his records and clarified his remarks - he met with or spoke to President Bush 3 times in August, and had a long meeting with him early in September.

Roto-Reuters is wrong again.

[kellynla]

Tenet and Freeh should have been fired the day after W took the oath of office. Next...

And why Tenet is still there is outrageous!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This commission is looking more and more like just another way to punish the Republicans, although it could hurt the DemonicRats if the detail prior to the final whitewashed report can come out. Like we are doing here.

[Just mythoughts]

"Tenet came under tough questioning, with Republican commissioner John Lehman calling the staff report a

"damning evaluation of a system that is broken."


Other commission members spoke of the need for an intelligence "revolution." "



The system is not "broken" it was deliberately set up the way it is.

What is the specific DATE, month and day of l995 that the Gorelick MEMO made a cement "WALL" the system?

[TomGuy]

He disclosed that the CIA knew by 1996 that bin Laden operatives had shot down a Black Hawk helicopter over Mogadishu in 1993 in a battle in which 18 U.S. troops were killed.

And yet, Clinton, in his 2002 admission about the Sudanese offering up bin Laden, Clinton said he didn't have any legal grounds for accepting bin Laden.

[thegreatbeast]

Technology today allows the president to have full funtionality of his office no matter where he goes. If Bush wanted to he could serve his presidency from down on the ranch.

[veronica]

So now the Dem spin is that 9/11 happened because Bush was in Crawford for a month.

Demo slur du jour.

[MrB]

a briefing headed, "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly."

And if anyone cranked up the scrutiny on this fellow, the leftists and the ACLU would have screamed bloody murder.

[TomGuy]

I think this post from another thread references the Gorelick memo date

The Murrah Bldg in OK city was blown up on April 19, 1995.
Exactly what date in 1995 was that Gorelick memo published?

The contents of the memo may have been secret but its existence was not.
The date is Mar. 4, 1995.
So, yes, you can possibly lay Oklahoma City on it too :-)

Office of the Attorney General
Washington, DC 20530
July 19, 1995
MEMORANDUM

TO:

Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
United States Attorney, Southern District of New York
Director, FBI
Counsel for Intelligence Policy

FROM: The Attorney General [signed: Janet Reno]
SUBJECT:

Effect of Procedures Governing FBI-Criminal Division Contacts During FI/FCI Investigations on Specific Instructions Concerning Separation of Certain FCI and Criminal Investigations

The memorandum issued by me today regarding procedures for contacts between the FBI and the Criminal Division concerning foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence investigations does not affect the specific instructions, contained in a memorandum from the Deputy Attorney General issued March 4, 1995, governing the separation of certain foreign counterintelligence and criminal investigations. Those instructions remain in effect.

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/1995procs.html
(bottom of the page)

117 posted on 04/14/2004 1:50:13 AM CDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Rumble Thee Forth...)

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

The Murrah Bldg in OK city was blown up on April 19, 1995.
Exactly what date in 1995 was that Gorelick memo published?

The contents of the memo may have been secret but its existence was not.
The date is Mar. 4, 1995.
So, yes, you can possibly lay Oklahoma City on it too :-)

Office of the Attorney General
Washington, DC 20530
July 19, 1995
MEMORANDUM

TO:

Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
United States Attorney, Southern District of New York
Director, FBI
Counsel for Intelligence Policy

FROM: The Attorney General [signed: Janet Reno]
SUBJECT:

Effect of Procedures Governing FBI-Criminal Division Contacts During FI/FCI Investigations on Specific Instructions Concerning Separation of Certain FCI and Criminal Investigations

The memorandum issued by me today regarding procedures for contacts between the FBI and the Criminal Division concerning foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence investigations does not affect the specific instructions, contained in a memorandum from the Deputy Attorney General issued March 4, 1995, governing the separation of certain foreign counterintelligence and criminal investigations. Those instructions remain in effect.

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/1995procs.html
(bottom of the page)

[VRWC_minion]

asked Tenet if he had ever mentioned to Bush the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui in mid-August 2001 after he had been detected behaving suspiciously in a Minnesota flight school.

I wonder if they were hiding something bigger from Bush and didn't want him to ask questions. TWA800 ?

[jpl]

The head of the CIA never informed a vacationing President Bush in August 2001 that a suspected Islamic extremist had been detected taking flight lessons, the panel investigating the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks on New York and Washington heard on Wednesday.

I suspect that in peactime no U.S. President would be given such specific information on a low-level terrorist, it would be viewed as wasting his valuable time. It might be given to Ashcroft though. The CIA and FBI are supposed to be able to handle certain things on their own without getting Presidential approval.

[rintense]

What a crock. Even when I'm on vacation, I leave a number that work can call in case of an emergency. Saying they didn't tell him because he was on vacation is nothing more than BS. He still had daily briefings while in Crawford.

[OXENinFLA]

August 6, 2001 President's Daily Brief----- July 2001 FBI Memo Warned Of Bin Laden Aviation Corps----- May 1998 FBI Memo Cited Possible Air Terror Plot

[Just mythoughts]

THANK YOU!

The one thing I have learned about the Clinton administration is they never left anything to chance. They were very professional and disciplined in running a stealth government. They always had people to shove out in front that looked like "idiots" to give cover for what was called a "bureaucratic snafu".

[TomGuy]

Yeh. I didn't think the agents (Phoenix and where Moussouai (sp) was) got their reports seen by anyone much higher than their own supervisors. Didn't they later complain about that--that their reports never got serious consideration by any 'higher ups'?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Will be away till afternoon.

Keep it going everyone.

[jpl]

Yes, and if I remember correctly I think Moussaoui was training in Minnesota.

[ReaganRevolution]

Saying they didn't tell him because he was on vacation is nothing more than BS. He still had daily briefings while in Crawford.

No doubt! I am sick and tired of the liberals pretending that you can't be President anywhere but in D.C. The presidency is a 24/7 job, no matter the location. Good grief! It does seem that he has been poorly served by the current CIA director.