I am not sure what people expect to hear from the current NSA.

The facts remain the same, irrespective from who you hear them. What differs is the personal perceptions of those involved, that is not fact, it is opinion, informed opinion admittedly, but at the level we are talking about here it is all fairly equally weighted, pro & con.

Those making up the committee (5 Rep & 5 Dem) to-date have been quite impressive and I believe that it is perfectly credible that they will deliver as full and as impartial Report as possible. On matters of procedure, considering the subject, complexity and importance of this Inquiry, why on earth are the members of the committee restricted to 15 minutes of questions? (I know they may get another, secondary round of supplimentary questions, but the time/opportunity they are afforded seemed very short).

Accusations seem to centre on whether, or not, the attention to the threat posed by Al-Qaeda was less under the direction of the Bush administration in the period January to September 2001, than during the time of the previous administration.

All the evidence heard to date strongly suggest that it was not regarded as being less important to the Bush administration, but that it was not regarded as being as urgent as by the previous Clinton administration. There are a number of extremely plausible, obvious and valid reasons for the incoming administration adopting that view, and they did have the comfort of knowing that the team looking after this issue remained intact apart from a change of NSA.

At the end of it all, with a report issued, people will believe very much what they believed before, but at least the facts and judgements as arrived at by the committee will be a matter of record. It will be interesting to read the committee's recommendations to improve security with a view to preventing further attacks. I wonder if they will take up Richard Clarke's proposal for a seperate "Secret Police" agency for the USA - I am sure from what people have said in this forum such a recommendation will be heartily welcomed, originating as it does from the person most here seem to regard as being the fount of all knowledge and wisdom pertaining to international terrorism and the security of the United States of America.