Tuesday, August 07, 2007

CIA to Release Pre-9-11 Intelligence on Labor Day

This is certainly good news:

The CIA has been ordered to release by Labor Day a declassified summary of an internal report on the agency’s performance prior to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, possibly shedding light on whether senior officials made fundamental lapses in judgment.

Under the 9/11 bill that President Bush signed into law Friday, the agency must release a public summary within 30 days of the law’s enactment, along with a classified annex for Congress that explains the report’s redactions.


We will finally hear about the real warnings that Tenet and the CIA had prior to 9-11. I've had people tell me (quite absurdly) that 15 different countries warned the US specifically about 9-11; I am sure that what was actually reported was far less specific.

Congress ordered the report in late 2002, and Helgerson completed the bulk of the work in 2003 and 2004, when Tenet was still CIA director. Following Tenet’s resignation in July 2004, his successor, Porter Goss, reportedly stalled an internal distribution of the report’s draft and asked Helgerson to make changes before it was sent to Congress.


I may be engaged in debunking the tinfoil hat crowd, but I'm for as much openness about the actual evidence that is available as possible.

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