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Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2002
Inquiry of Intelligence Failures Hits Obstacles
Sept. 11: The lawmakers leading the investigation voice concerns that the
CIA and Justice Department are undermining efforts.
By GREG MILLER
TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers leading the investigation of
intelligence agencies' failures surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
are increasingly concerned that tactics by the CIA and the Justice
Department are actively impeding their efforts, congressional sources said
Friday.
Members of the Senate and House intelligence committees are so frustrated
with the tactics, sources said, that they intend to complain directly to
CIA Director George J. Tenet and Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, declined to discuss the committee's concerns with the CIA and
the FBI in detail but said: "There are problems we are going to have to
address." The flare-up centers on obstacles congressional investigators say
the agencies have strewn in their path. The CIA, for example, has refused
to allow investigators to send their contact information to agency
employees by e-mail to make it easier for the employees to volunteer
information, congressional sources familiar with the investigation said.
At the Justice Department, the intelligence committees' requests for
records take weeks to wind their way through the department's bureaucracy
and sometimes are simply not acted upon, according to sources familiar with
the investigation.
The perceived heel-dragging has bogged down an inquiry that already was
sidetracked last week by the resignation of its lead investigator.
Congressional investigators are under pressure to complete their work
before ranking Intelligence Committee members' terms expire at the end of
the year.
"There's no time to waste," one source said, adding that the targets of the
inquiry seem intent on exploiting that deadline. Although the agencies have
cooperated somewhat, he said, their recent tactics are a significant
impediment.
CIA officials flatly rejected the suggestion that they are less than
cooperative. "The CIA has provided extraordinary support to the
investigation staff," CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said. "We have provided
thousands of pages of documents, facilitated numerous interviews, housed
members of their staff in our headquarters and provided briefings on
counterterrorism, all while fighting a war.
"We have had 15 members of the agency staff working full time since before
there was a congressional investigation collecting material to aid their
efforts."
Justice Department officials also brushed aside investigators' complaints.
"The attorney general has worked cooperatively with Congress on all matters
related to Sept. 11 and will continue to do so," said Barbara Comstock,
director of public affairs.
Members of the intelligence committees discussed the perceived lack of
cooperation in meetings this week. Describing the mood among members, one
aide said, "You have to use the word 'angst.'"
By Friday, the ranking members of the committees had agreed to take the
issue directly to the heads of the CIA and the Justice Department. Sens.
Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Shelby, and Reps. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Nancy
Pelosi (D-San Francisco) were going to request meetings.
A CIA official, who asked not to be identified, said he was unaware of any
planned meetings: "I can tell you that none of the leadership of these
committees have called Director Tenet to advise him of any unhappiness."
The friction underscores the stakes of an investigation that could yield
embarrassing details about what the nation's $30-billion intelligence
community knew or didn't know leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The congressional probe was launched in February. It aims to determine
whether the terrorist attacks could have been prevented, and to consider
ways to improve the nation's intelligence capabilities.
Sources close to the investigation said they recently obtained documents
indicating that an FBI agent in Arizona had warned headquarters concerning
his suspicions about Arabs training at area aviation schools months before
the attacks.
Small teams of investigators have been based at the Justice Department and
the CIA, gathering documents and conducting interviews. They have come back
with a litany of complaints about tactics they say are designed to slow
their progress and restrict their access to documents and potential
informants, sources said.
All interviews with agency employees are supervised by CIA officials who
have prevented investigators even from collecting business cards or phone
numbers from interview subjects, sources said.
The CIA official said employees have been urged to cooperate with the probe
and that a notice listing investigators' contact information is scheduled
to be distributed next week.
Investigators also complain that they have been stationed in a location at
the agency where employees cannot get to their offices without passing by,
and probably attracting the notice of, the CIA's congressional affairs staff.
"In a sense, they've put a wall up so no one can get to the investigators,"
a congressional source said.
The CIA official acknowledged that investigators were placed near the
agency's congressional affairs office but said that was to assist the
investigators.
Investigators also say their requests for certain documents have been
rebuffed, often by agency employees who explain that they first need
clearance from all other spy agencies that contributed material to the
documents.
And when investigators do get to view documents, sources said, it has been
only under the supervision of CIA staffers.
Former CIA officials say that they would be surprised if the agency were
intentionally hindering the investigation and that much of the tension
might be because of legitimate security concerns.
"In my experience, I have been absolutely astonished at the amount of
detail the intelligence community and the CIA in particular give the
Congress," said Jeffrey Smith, a former general counsel for the CIA.
He said the only exceptions tend to be when there is a need to protect
sensitive information.
As for the intelligence agency refusing to circulate investigators' contact
information, Smith said, partly in jest: "Frankly, anybody at CIA who wants
to leak to the committee who can't figure out how to do it" probably
shouldn't be working there.
article is at <www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000031609may04.story>
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