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| Horrors of Horrors: The 9/11 Commission that Refuses to Die |
| 2005-08-06 |
| The White House has failed to turn over any of the information requested by the 10 members of the disbanded Sept. 11 commission in their renewed, unofficial investigation into whether the government is doing enough to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil, commission members said. The members said that the Bush administration's lack of cooperation was hindering a project that was otherwise nearly complete. Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey who led the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission, said he was surprised and disappointed that the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several other executive branch agencies had failed to respond to requests made two months ago for updated information on the government's antiterrorism programs. The requests came not from the disbanded commission, which was created by Congress, and had subpoena powers, but from its shadow group, which the members call the 9/11 Public Discourse Project. It was established by the members of the Sept. 11 commission when the panel formally went out of business last August, shortly after releasing a unanimous report that called for an overhaul of the nation's counterterrorism agencies. "It's very disappointing," Mr. Kean said of the administration's failure to cooperate with the group. "All we're trying to do is make the public safer." Mr. Kean said there had been no response of any sort to interview requests for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Porter J. Goss, the C.I.A. director; Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, among others. A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, would not answer directly when asked if the administration intended to respond to the project's requests for information before next month, when the group is scheduled to publish an updated report that assesses the progress of the government's counterterrorism. Ms. Perino said that much of the information sought by the private group was available from public sources. "We welcome their interest in seeing their recommendations implemented," Ms. Perino said. "There is ample public information available for them to review about all of the actions we continue to take to better protect the American people." She said that the administration had provided "unprecedented" cooperation to the commission during the official investigation, including access to more than two million documents. Several executive branch agencies had no immediate comment when asked Friday whether they intended to provide additional information to the project, but the Department of Homeland Security said it intended to provide a package of information. In telephone interviews in which he repeatedly expressed his frustration with the White House, Mr. Kean said the Public Discourse Project intended to publish its "report card" next month with or without the administration's assistance, although he said that "obviously it's most helpful to have the information from the agencies that are trying to implement the reforms." "Honestly, I thought they would want to cooperate," he said of the White House and the agencies. "I thought it would give them a chance to tell their story. They have made some progress." Mr. Kean would not forecast the conclusions of the new report, except to say it would be "tough but fair" in assessing the work of government agencies involved in counterterrorism. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #3 I think it's a power deal. Yes let it go, if you want to work on homeland security, call them and see what you can do to help if anything. Don't waste their time having to report to you Mr. Kean. |
| Posted by: Jan 2005-08-06 22:15 |
| #2 "I beseech ye, in the bowels of Christ think ye that ye may be mistaken" OC |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-06 22:02 |
| #1 "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go." Oliver Cromwell |
| Posted by: Mark E. 2005-08-06 20:29 |