NYT, p. 1: 9/11 Panel Cites CIA for Failures in Terror Case

[DeepModem Mom]

Sept. 11 Panel Cites C.I.A. for Failures in Terror Case
By PHILIP SHENON and ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: April 15, 2004

ASHINGTON, April 14 — George J. Tenet and his deputies at the Central Intelligence Agency were presented in August 2001 with a briefing paper labeled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly" about the arrest days earlier of Zacarias Moussaoui, but did not act on the information, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Wednesday.

An interim report by the panel's staff offered a stinging assessment of the C.I.A. under Mr. Tenet's leadership and was made public during a hearing at which Mr. Tenet disclosed that he had little contact with President Bush during much of the summer of 2001, a period when intelligence agencies were warning of a dire terrorist threat.

Mr. Tenet, the director of central intelligence since 1997, testified that he had no contact at all with Mr. Bush in August, the month in which the president received a C.I.A. report suggesting that terrorists of Al Qaeda were already in the United States and might be planning a domestic airplane hijacking.

The agency later telephoned reporters on Wednesday to correct Mr. Tenet's testimony, saying he met once with the president during Mr. Bush's nearly monthlong vacation that August at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., and once again when Mr. Bush returned to Washington later that month. In defending Mr. Bush from recent contentions that he was not sufficiently attentive to domestic terrorist threats before Sept. 11, the White House has cited his face-to-face meetings with Mr. Tenet as proof of his interest....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/15/politics/15PANE.html

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Adding WP, p 1: Al Qaeda Unchecked for Years

Al Qaeda Unchecked For Years, Panel Says
Tenet Concedes CIA Made Mistakes
By Walter Pincus and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 15, 2004; Page A01


U.S. intelligence services failed to recognize the emergence of the al Qaeda terrorist network until more than a decade after it was founded in 1988, playing down a tide of reports that documented the danger posed by the group, according to findings released yesterday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The CIA's Counterterrorist Center never developed a plan to deal with the possibility that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons despite growing evidence during the 1990s that terrorist groups had attempted or were planning such plots, the commission's staff also found.

CIA Director George J. Tenet acknowledged yesterday that he did not brief President Bush, FBI leaders or Cabinet members after he was informed in late August 2001 of the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, who would later be charged as a conspirator in the terror attacks. The briefing for Tenet was titled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly."

***

The findings by the panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, were the second time in as many days that the commission's investigators have unveiled a sweeping condemnation of the U.S. intelligence community, this time focused on the CIA. The same investigators released a report Tuesday that the panel's chairman had described as "an indictment of the FBI."....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13122-2004Apr14.html

[gandalf]

2. If "senior officials" don't act, a structural reform won't help

Regarding the many warnings prior to 9/11 of using airplanes as weapons, of Al Qaeda members entering the US after having been to a terror summit in Malaysia, and so on, regarding the specific requests lower FBI officials made what should be done about flight schools -- how can anybody still cite "structural problems"?

If people like Dave Frasca simply "didn't read the memos", simply don't act on the information available, than a reform of the intelligence agencies or broader competencies would unnecessarily hurt civil rights, but accomplish nothing.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. You make a very good point, gandalf --

[gandalf]

4. thanks

:)

I am still wondering about the tame press.