CIA report on 9/11 due Labor Day

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CIA report on 9/11 due Labor Day
By Helen Fessenden
August 08, 2007


The CIA has been ordered to release by Labor Day a declassified summary of an internal report on the agency’s performance prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, possibly shedding light on whether senior officials made fundamental lapses in judgment.

Under the 9/11 bill that President Bush signed into law Friday, the agency must release a public summary within 30 days of the law’s enactment, along with a classified annex for Congress that explains the report’s redactions.

CIA spokesman George Little told The Hill in an e-mail Monday that the agency “will, of course, comply with the law.”

Until now, the CIA had refused to disclose any part of the report since its former inspector general (IG), John Helgerson, completed the final draft more than two years ago. The 9/11 bill, which addresses most of the 9/11 Commission’s unfulfilled recommendations, is the first successful legislation to mandate a declassified summary.

According to previous media accounts, the IG report is more hard-hitting about the CIA’s internal failings than the 9/11 Commission’s 2004 account, and points fingers at specific senior individuals at the agency. Those reportedly include former CIA Director George Tenet, former Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt, and former CIA Counterterrorism Center Chief Cofer Black. All have left the agency.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence panel, told The Hill shortly before the bill’s signing that “No one has come even close to giving a good national security argument as to why the public should be denied access to this information.”

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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cia-report-on-9/11-due-labor-day-2007-08-08.html