Shays: Clarke Statements Revisionist
Stamford, CT -- Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT),
chair of the Subcommittee on National Security,
Emerging Threats and International Relations,
expressed concern today about recent claims by former
Clinton and Bush Administration official Richard
Clarke that the Bush Administration failed to respond
to the terrorist threat prior to September 11.
Noting Clarke told the subcommittee in June, 2000 that
there was: �no need for an assessment� of the
terrorist threat, Shays stated, �Mr. Clarke is
engaging in revisionist history, apparently for
personal partisan reasons. The fact is, when he had
the authority and responsibility to craft U.S.
counterterrorism policies, he consistently failed to
articulate a cogent strategy or plan to Congress.�
Prior to September 2001, three national commissions -
Bremer, Gilmore and Hart/Rudman - had concluded the
U.S. needed a comprehensive threat assessment, a
national strategy and a plan to reorganize the federal
response to the new strategic menace of terrorism. The
National Security Subcommittee, which Shays chairs,
held 20 hearings and two formal briefings before
September 11th on terrorist threats and preparedness.
Shays noted that at a briefing on June 28, 2000, he
asked Mr. Clarke, then serving as President Clinton�s
Special Assistant and National Coordinator, Security,
Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism, when
an all-source threat assessment and strategy would be
completed. His answer: �No assessment has been done,
and there is no need for an assessment, I know the
threat.�
Earlier that year, at the Department of Defense
Worldwide Conference on Terrorism, Mr. Clarke�s
assistant, Ms. Lisa Gordon-Haggerty, was asked when a
national strategy to combat terrorism would be
completed. She said Mr. Clarke�s office was developing
a national strategy, and the plan would be completed
over the next several weeks. No national strategy to
combat terrorism was ever produced during the Clinton
Administration.
�The task of responding to the terrorist threat is too
important to be lowered to partisan bickering,� said
Shays. �The bottom line is, the failure to respond to
the terrorist threat was systemic, not political. It
spanned several administrations and pervaded the
intelligence community.�
�Lowering this debate to this partisan level serves
neither the American people nor the cause of fighting
terrorism to which Mr. Clarke is so committed,� Shays
added.
Letters from the Subcommittee to Mr. Clarke following
his testimony, and to Dr. Condoleezza Rice regarding
concerns about Mr. Clarke's performance, are attached.
Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) is Chairman of
the Subcommittee on National Security, International
Relations, and Emerging Threats, Vice-Chairman of the
Committee on Government Reform and has held over 50
hearings on terrorism.
--- Jerry Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Clarke was completely right that someone in the
> administration made that decision, since HE was in
> the administration at that point.
>
> Why is that wrong?
>
> Jerry Johnson
>
>
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