News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMine9-11forewarned — Viewing Item


Probe hindered { September 18 2002 }

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33124-2002Sep18.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33124-2002Sep18.html

Senator Says 9/11 Intelligence Probe Hindered



Reuters
Wednesday, September 18, 2002; 8:50 AM


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional investigators are not getting the cooperation they need from the Bush administration on information held by the U.S. intelligence community before the Sept. 11 attacks, a ranking Republican senator said on Wednesday.

U.S. House of Representatives and Senate intelligence committees kick off hearings on Wednesday on U.S. information-gathering activities before last year's deadly attacks on America.

A congressional source said on Tuesday U.S. intelligence agencies knew of unspecified threats against U.S. targets and about the possibility airplanes would be used as weapons.

On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers flew two airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York, destroying the towering structures, and another crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington. A fourth airplane, which may have been destined for a second site in Washington, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

Altogether, more than 3,000 people were killed.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the administration of impeding the probe into what the intelligence community knew before Sept. 11.

"Are we getting the cooperation we need? Absolutely not; that's one of our concerns," Shelby told NBC's "Today Show" before the congressional hearings opened.

Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained that FBI and CIA officials "at the operational level ... who had their hands on" important intelligence information were not being made available to congressional investigators.

Instead, Graham told NBC the committee is being given access to officials "at the top of the pyramid" who "only have a general apartness of what was going on in the organization."

"The fact they used airplanes as weapons should not have been a surprise to the intelligence community. I'm not sure it was to everyone," Shelby said.

After Sept. 11, White House officials complained that members of the U.S. Congress were leaking information to the media about what was known before the attacks.

Graham denied any congressional leaks have hindered the ongoing investigation. Shelby said there have "always been leaks and there will be in the future," adding that most of those leaks "have come from the executive branch of government" over the past year.

The two congressional committees are declassifying some of the more than 400,000 documents that have been gathered. Graham has said the information will provide an overview of the plot and events leading up to the devastating attack on the United States.

Graham said on Wednesday he was surprised the American public did not get a stronger warning of a possible attack.

"We have a lot of work to do on the threat warning system" so the public is given better information on what they should do to "protect themselves their families, their communities" when an alert is issued, he added.


© 2002 Reuters



informants
june-02-story-broke
leaks-probe
post-may-15-02
translator-sibel-edmonds
911 documents show hijacking warnings { April 10 2004 }
911 invest hindered { May 9 2002 }
911 warned lies
Able danger intelligence unit identified hijackers { August 12 2005 }
Able danger officer expands allegations { August 17 2005 }
Able danger weldon under fbi investigation { October 16 2006 }
Advanced warning fox { April 12 2002 }
Agent says fbi blocked efforts to stop 911
Agent spent 4 weeks warning fbi { March 21 2006 }
Alabama republican senator leaked classified information to fox { August 5 2004 }
Alarms ignored panel told by clark
Alqaeda trainee warned FBI { June 3 2004 }
Alqaida briefing to bush one month before 911 { April 10 2004 }
Ashcroft cuts counter terrorism before 911 { May 21 2002 }
Ashcroft doesnt fly commercial before 911 { July 26 2001 }
Ashcroft refuses to fly commercial before 9 11 { April 13 2004 }
Barriers to inquiry { September 19 2002 }
Bremer said bush waiting for major incident { April 30 2004 }
Bush briefed about hijackings right before 911
Bush told alqaeda plots hijacking airplanes { November 13 2003 }
Bush took holiday after terror attack memo { August 6 2001 }
Cia defends response to tip about sept 11 { February 24 2004 }
Cia knew extremists were taking flight lessons
Cia moussauoi { June 4 2002 }
Cia not to blame { January 24 2003 }
Cia warned of aviation attack 1995
Cia warns extremists taking flight lessons
Cia was given data on hijacker long before 911 { February 24 2004 }
Clinton plan
Cnn 95 wtc warning
Commission wants cia author of bin laden warning { April 14 2004 }
Congress inquiry { June 5 2002 }
Faa alerted on alqaeda hijackings in 1998 { September 14 2005 }
Fbi admits to moussaoui defense that fbi knew { March 7 2006 }
Fbi bosses thwarted 911 investigation { March 21 2006 }
Fbi warned bosses about moussaoui 70 times { March 21 2006 }
Former fbi chief asks why commission ignored able danger { November 17 2005 }
Gore accuses bush on 911
Intelligence document warns binladen attack inside us
Investigation leak for nsa 911 warning { January 22 2004 }
Israel warned
Kpfa vreeland
Military intelligence warned of atta in summer 2000 { August 9 2005 }
More fbi translator whisteblowers { November 30 2004 }
Morgan stanley warned and employees saved on 911 { October 28 2001 }
Moussaoui defense says fbi know more than suspect { March 7 2006 }
New 911 report shows many warnings about hijackings { February 10 2005 }
Norad conducted mock hijackings with airliners as weapons
Norad had drills of jets as weapons
Nsa tracked 911 hijacker
Panel says bush saw repeated warnings
Pentagon denies claims by able danger { September 11 2001 }
Pentagon knew hijackers link to alqaeda { August 10 2005 }
Pentagon top brass cancels their flights on 911
Pre 911 briefing said that qaeda active in us { April 11 2004 }
Pre alqaeda plan
Probe hindered { September 18 2002 }
Probers say failure { September 19 2002 }
Rice brushed off major cia 911 warning { October 2 2006 }
Rockefeller covers up able danger whistleblower { December 26 2006 }
Sam byck attempts airliner into white house 1974 { January 30 1930 }
Security lowered right before 911 { September 12 2001 }
Senator specer wants answers about able danger { September 21 2005 }
Taliban warned
Tenet defends 1999 threat information { February 24 2004 }
US warned in 1995 of plane building attack
Zelikow prepares for 911 [pdf]

Files Listed: 67



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple