Friday, Sep 5, 2008
In a critical report, the staff of the 9/11 commission says the FBI failed to respond to the growing threat of terrorism.
Apr 13, 2004 | The staff of the 9/11 commission issued what one of its co-chairmen called an "indictment" of the FBI Tuesday -- a 5,000-word report cataloging the failure of the bureau to respond to the growing threat of terrorism in the years and months before 9/11.
Prior to the terror attacks, the commission's staff concluded, the FBI suffered from "limited intelligence collection and strategic analysis capabilities, a limited capacity to share information both internally and externally, insufficient training, an overly complex legal regime and inadequate resources." In short, the staff said: "Prior to 9/11, the FBI did not have an adequate ability to know what it knew.
>Former FBI Director Louis Freeh testified Tuesday that the bureau had a "very effective" counterterrorism program given the resources available to it, but the staff report says otherwise. It quotes Attorney General Janet Reno as saying that Freeh himself refused to shift available funding to counterterrorism efforts.
Below is the full text of the staff report, as provided by the commission to the Associated Press:
"Law Enforcement, Counterterrorism, and Intelligence Collection in the United States Prior to 9/11"
Members of the Commission, with your help, your staff has developed initial findings regarding law enforcement and intelligence collection in the United States prior to the 9/11 attacks. These findings may help frame some of the issues to be discussed during this hearing and inform the development of your judgments and recommendations.
This statement reflects the results of our work so far. We remain ready to revise our understanding of this topic as our investigation progresses. This staff statement represents the collective efforts of a number of members of our staff. Caroline Barnes, Christine Healey, Lance Cole, Michael Jacobson, Peter Rundlet and Doug Greenburg did most of the investigative work reflected in this statement.
We were fortunate in being able to build upon strong investigative work done by the Congressional Joint Inquiry and by the Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General. We have obtained excellent cooperation from the FBI and the Department of Justice, both in Washington and in six FBI field offices across the United States.
"The Role of the FBI"
The FBI played the lead role in the government's domestic counterterrorism strategy before September 11. In the 1990s, the FBI's counterterrorism efforts against international terrorist organizations included both intelligence and criminal investigations. Consistent with its traditional law enforcement approach, most of the FBI's energy during this period was devoted to after-the-fact investigations of major terrorist attacks in order to develop criminal cases.
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