shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject: Congress Given Internal Report on C.I.A. Role |
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NY TIMES
| Quote: | Congress Given Internal Report on C.I.A. Role
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: August 24, 2005
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 - Porter J. Goss, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, delivered a long-awaited internal report to Congress on Monday night that is said to give a harsh assessment of the agency's performance before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Mr. Goss, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before his appointment last year as head of the C.I.A., hand-delivered two copies of the classified report to staff members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
The copies of the report, which is several hundred pages, were placed in committee safes and were not to be opened at least until Wednesday, said a Congressional official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press on the record.
The report was prepared by the C.I.A.'s inspector general, John L. Helgerson, in response to a request in December 2002 from the joint Congressional inquiry into the attacks. By statute, Mr. Helgerson, who joined the C.I.A. in 1971 and became inspector general in 2002, is the agency's independent watchdog, reporting to Congress as well as to the agency.
A draft report was given to Mr. Goss in October, but he postponed its release so that people criticized for their role in the failure to prevent the 2001 attacks could review and respond to the accusations. Officials and former officials named in the report gave their responses to Mr. Helgerson before he completed the report in late June.
On July 22, Mr. Goss informed Congressional officials in a brief note that the final report had been completed.
The draft report was described by intelligence officials in January as highly critical of George J. Tenet, the former C.I.A. director, and James L. Pavitt, the former deputy director for operations, both of whom retired last year. A spokesman for Mr. Tenet, Bill Harlow, and Mr. Pavitt both took issue with the reported findings in interviews at that time.
Representative Jane Harman of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said she would favor asking the C.I.A. to declassify as much of the report as possible. "Of course we have to protect sources and methods," Ms. Harman said in an interview Tuesday. "But the point of requesting this report was to tell the public what happened."
Sarah Little, a spokeswoman for Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he would not decide what might be declassified until he had read the report. Ms. Little said Mr. Roberts was traveling in his home state this week and would probably not see the report until next week. |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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