Posted on 08/23/2005 5:09:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - CIA Director Porter Goss personally delivered to Congress the findings of the agency's inspector general report on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, opening a debate about how much of the highly classified and critical document should be made public.
The report, which congressional officials had yet to review Tuesday evening, is a hard-hitting chronicle of actions taken by individuals and the CIA bureaucracy before the attacks nearly four years ago.
The findings are expected to highlight failures of specific individuals, according to present and former government officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Goss had told Congress earlier that people scrutinized in the report had been given an opportunity to review it and respond.
The investigation by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson has caused further angst at an agency that has been repeatedly and harshly criticized for intelligence failures before the 9/11 attacks.
The CIA declined to comment on the report's substance, as did the newly created office of the national intelligence director, which oversees all 15 U.S. spy agencies.
The long-anticipated report spanning hundreds of pages was commissioned in December 2002 by a House and Senate panel investigating the 9/11 attacks.
The joint congressional panel didn't assign personal culpability in its findings but asked inspectors general at the CIA and other national security agencies to look into whether anyone in government should be held accountable.
Lawmakers are particularly interested in how the inspector general divides blame between career intelligence officials and the senior appointees who oversaw them, said congressional aides, who spoke on also condition of anonymity because the report is classified.
The report was delivered to Goss in July. California Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, had questioned for weeks why it hadn't been delivered to Congress. She said the delay fed "the suspicion that maybe people are covering it up."
On Tuesday, Goss himself delivered the report to Congress.
Harman said in an interview Monday evening that the report should be made public so "its thoroughness and accuracy can then be debated."
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's senior Democrat, also wants to make public as much of the report as possible, said his spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi.
A declassified public version, however, could be months, years or even decades away, as has happened with other intelligence reports. For instance, the CIA's report on the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba was not released publicly until 1998.
All of it. Word for word.
I want to see what they have done to us.
You're right, it's crucial to release it all -- and for another reason, too: the 'Rats will leak whatever they think they can spin in their favor, so we might as well get it all out in the open and sort it out from there. Certain names and events may have to be redacted, but the main body of the report should be made public asap.
I am leaving a dime under my pillow tonight and also nailing up my stocking. The CIA report should tell us quite bit ( yeah, sure).
How much Whitewash did he have to use?
Any part of it that blames Bush or right-wing supporters will immediately be leaked to and reported by the left-wing media.
The criticisms of left-wing people will, of course, remain secret according to the issue's security clearance.
So, we won't know the real truth about any of it. CNN, of course, will have a documentary about how the CIA said the Bush administration blew it and half of the population will believe it like gospel.
LOOSE LIPPED Congresscritters will determine that, no doubt.
Exactly!
I always worry that we will reveal too much and give the terrorists clues as to ALL the obstacles they must overcome to pull something off.
We could really be in for a big to do, if Able Danger, CIA report, and prosecutor Fitzgerald all report this fall. Do you think we might just catch some traitors?
What would constitute a crime in relation to a "qualified" omission in the Commissioners report?
As far as I can see, there is none.
The problem that may arise is if Bubba had knowledge of Able Danger, passed it on to "selected people" in the CIA and/or FBI and gave direct orders to bury it and keep it buried if it should come your way. Even that is likely not to be a crime since Bubba had no knowledge that an attack would occur on the mainland.
HOWEVER, since there had been an attack on the mainland in 1993 in NYC, there should have been an overriding consensus to take the terrorists out.
Obviously ignoring the cell was not prudent, but that is in hindsight. No one, except the terrorists knew that 9-11 would occur.
Bubba's agreement when he left office was that he cannot be put on trial in a civil court. Whether it includes "crimes known" like perjury or is much broader, I don't know. I'm betting it's verrrry broad.
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