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Whitehouse slow providing 911 documents { July 9 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/09/MN280556.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/09/MN280556.DTL
Sept. 11 probers complain of delays
White House slow in providing access to key documents, federal commission says
Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback
Washington -- Leaders of a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks complained Tuesday that the Bush administration had been too slow to provide access to key documents and was intimidating witnesses by insisting that CIA and FBI "minders" attend sensitive interviews.
The chairman of the commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, said the delays were threatening the panel's ability to meet its congressionally imposed deadline and produce a final report before the 2004 presidential election.
"The coming weeks will determine whether we will be able to do our job within the time allotted," Kean said during a news conference billed as an interim progress report. "Time is slipping by."
Kean and commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton were particularly critical of the administration's insistence that interviews with intelligence or law enforcement officials be supervised.
"The commission feels unanimously it is some intimidation to have someone sitting behind you all the time," Kean said.
The CIA acknowledged that it required all interviews with its employees to be monitored but denied the practice had any chilling effect.
"It has been the CIA's standing operating procedure for decades," said CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield. The minder is only present to keep a record of any classified information that is disclosed, he said.
Despite their criticism of the administration, Kean and Hamilton -- a former Democratic congressman from Indiana -- said they did not believe the White House was stonewalling investigators.
And the officials said that in some cases they were getting access to highly sensitive materials that congressional investigators did not obtain in a separate Sept. 11 probe that concluded earlier this year.
Kean said that in some cases agencies had been slow to turn over records in part because they had been caught off-guard by the nature and volume of materials the commission had requested. Some of these records include officials' private diaries and notes, Kean said.
The commission was created seven months ago and is widely perceived to have gotten off to a slow start. Tuesday's news conference appeared designed to quiet such criticism and put fresh pressure on the White House to accelerate the turnover of records.
The complaints from commission leaders prompted prominent lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as well as relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, to question whether the White House is trying to stall until the commission runs out of time or the presidential election is over.
"This administration has opposed at every turn the creation of an independent commission to investigate the tragedy of Sept. 11th," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., a presidential contender who co-sponsored legislation creating the panel. "By delaying its response to the commission's information requests, the administration may now be hoping to run out the clock."
The White House has dismissed such criticisms, saying it is cooperating fully with the investigation. Just this week, the administration designated a senior Justice Department official to expedite handling of requests for information.
The commission's report is due May 27. Kean said members did not plan to seek an extension.
Commission officials said they had encountered an array of obstacles at numerous agencies.
The Justice Department, they said, has sought to block access to a number of important files on the grounds that turning over the records might contaminate the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only suspect charged in direct connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
And Hamilton was particularly critical of the Pentagon, saying the panel had not received responses to requests for information from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is responsible for patrolling skies over the United States.
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