BS: The FBI and 9/11

Subject: RE: BS: The FBI and 9/11
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 04:43 PM

Ashcroft was also out of the PDB loop, and apparently wasn't aware of any threat, according to the staff reports of the 9/11 commission, giving their now daily interview on Lehrer's Newshour last night. Each night they have one Republican and one Democrat (and they usually seem to agree on virtually everything) on to discuss the day's inquisiton. It's been the most interesting analysis I've seen, because most of the news shows have 2 second blurbs, or the pundits doing their spin things.

These interviews are always interesting and at times, revelatory, because these are the people who are reading all the staff reports, interviewing all the witnesses and hearing all the testimony.

Subject: RE: BS: The FBI and 9/11
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 03:59 PM

There's an interesting take on the FBI's role in 9/11 tomorrow night on the American news programme "Frontline," on PBS. Apparently the FBI agent who was the expert on al Qaeda was let go from the FBI the summer of 2001, just a month or so before 9/11. It should be an interesting programme, although it is a repeat of an old one. If anyone wants to watch it online, it's available at the link below.

More details

Subject: RE: BS: The FBI and 9/11
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 10:56 PM

Reno also said that during the millenium threats that "priciples" met every day on threats and that they considered themselves to be on a war footing. She said that that bounced ideas off on another and that there existed a great amount of "trust" between the principles. She said that if something came up, they would figure out how to get it sorted out. For example, she said if there was document thwat needed translating it would be rushed down to the Pentagon for translating.

One can see the direction 9/11 Comission is going and it looks as if the FBI is (and the CIA to a lesser extent) are being set up to take the fall and, while I am in agreement that better coordination and higher funding are needed, I am not convinced that Bill Clinton would have taken the threat of bin Laden wanting to attack the US as lightly as Bush aqpparently has.

And again, I will repeat my observations that while 9/11 might not have been thwarted given intellegence failuers, that the Bush administration certainly created a scenerio where bin Laden would not only have support but admiration in the Arab world but turning its back on the Middle East. They say that timing is everything...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: The FBI and 9/11
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 08:29 PM

Ashcroft placed the blame on the clinton administration but
on sept 10,01 he wanted to cut fbi's budget.

Subject: BS: The FBI and 9/11
From: Strick
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 01:39 PM

Have you seen the latest headlines from the 9/11 Commission? "FBI Weak on Terror Threat Response"

I'm going to try to thread this carefully because I don't want to seem to be picking on either administration. It won't work, but I'll try. Here's the article and some quotes:

FBI Weak on Terror Threat Response

"On the day of the attacks, 'about 1,300 agents, or 6 percent of the FBI's total personnel, worked on counterterrorism'", according to the commission.



"'We had a very effective program with respect to counterterrorism prior to Sept. 11 given the resources that we had,' Freeh said, noting that the report found that inadequate resources and legal restrictions were key ingredients in the agency's failings. That seemed a reference to Congress, which approves funding, and former Attorney General Janet Reno, who issued guidelines meant to strengthen American civil liberties protections by keeping the fruits of intelligence separate from criminal prosecution.

But Reno was quoted in the report as saying that while the FBI never seemed to have sufficient resources, 'Director Freeh seemed unwilling to shift resources to terrorism from other areas such as violent crime.' Freeh said he shifted resources to meet specific emergency needs, but congressional limits prevented permanent shifts."



"More broadly, Reno said the FBI faced huge challenges in learning how to use all the information it collected on intelligence and criminal matters. 'The FBI didn't know what it had. The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing,' she said."



"Creation of a new Investigative Services Division in 1999 was a failure, the commission said, adding that 66 percent of the FBI's analysts were "not qualified to perform analytical duties."

A new counterterrorism strategy a year later again fell woefully short, and a review in 2001 showed that "almost every FBI field office's counterterrorism program was assessed to be operating at far below 'maximum capacity.'"



"Ashcroft has testified previously that the Justice Department had 'no higher priority' than protecting Americans from terrorism at home and abroad.

Yet the commission staff statement quotes a former FBI counterterrorism chief, Dale Watson, as saying he 'almost fell out of his chair' when he saw a May 10 budget memo from Ashcroft listing seven priorities, including illegal drugs and gun violence, but not terrorism."

Italics added. Plenty of blame to go around this time. The FBI's been screwed up a long time.