Freeh time
I've been worried that Louis Freeh would get a pass, but maybe not.
"Commission officials said that Mr. Freeh would be asked why the F.B.I., despite a tripling of its budget for counterterrorism during the 1990's, had failed to develop evidence of a serious domestic threat from Al Qaeda before Sept. 11 and had failed to establish clearer procedures for sharing terrorism information internally and with other agencies.
"Commission officials said that evidence gathered by the commission showed that Mr. Freeh had become so involved in managing a handful of criminal investigations, most prominently the investigation of the 1996 bombing of American military barracks in Saudi Arabia, and in other struggles with the Clinton White House that the potential for a domestic terrorist attack by Al Qaeda received relatively little attention.
"Mr. Freeh did not return telephone calls seeking comment. In testimony in October 2002 before Congressional investigators, he said that the bureau's counterterrorism program had been hampered by inadequate budgets.
"But in that testimony he defended the bureau's record in combating terrorism and said he did not believe the F.B.I. had adequate information to pre-empt the attacks. 'I am aware of nothing that to me demonstrates that the F.B.I. and the intelligence community had the type of information or tactical intelligence which could have prevented the horror,' he said.
"Commission officials said Mr. Freeh would also be harshly questioned about why, under his leadership, the bureau had not been able to obtain basic computer and communications equipment that would have allowed agents around the country to share information about terrorist threats. The communications system was so outdated at the time of the attacks that agents could not even share e-mail on bureau computers."
That matches what I've been reading in Richard Clarke's book. The Clinton administration was throwing money at the FBI to ratchet up counterterrorism, but it was going nowhere as Freeh was obsessed with fighting the Clinton administration at every turn.
Ashcroft will get his turn under the hot lights as well. Should be interesting.
"Commission officials said that Mr. Freeh would be asked why the F.B.I., despite a tripling of its budget for counterterrorism during the 1990's, had failed to develop evidence of a serious domestic threat from Al Qaeda before Sept. 11 and had failed to establish clearer procedures for sharing terrorism information internally and with other agencies.
"Commission officials said that evidence gathered by the commission showed that Mr. Freeh had become so involved in managing a handful of criminal investigations, most prominently the investigation of the 1996 bombing of American military barracks in Saudi Arabia, and in other struggles with the Clinton White House that the potential for a domestic terrorist attack by Al Qaeda received relatively little attention.
"Mr. Freeh did not return telephone calls seeking comment. In testimony in October 2002 before Congressional investigators, he said that the bureau's counterterrorism program had been hampered by inadequate budgets.
"But in that testimony he defended the bureau's record in combating terrorism and said he did not believe the F.B.I. had adequate information to pre-empt the attacks. 'I am aware of nothing that to me demonstrates that the F.B.I. and the intelligence community had the type of information or tactical intelligence which could have prevented the horror,' he said.
"Commission officials said Mr. Freeh would also be harshly questioned about why, under his leadership, the bureau had not been able to obtain basic computer and communications equipment that would have allowed agents around the country to share information about terrorist threats. The communications system was so outdated at the time of the attacks that agents could not even share e-mail on bureau computers."
That matches what I've been reading in Richard Clarke's book. The Clinton administration was throwing money at the FBI to ratchet up counterterrorism, but it was going nowhere as Freeh was obsessed with fighting the Clinton administration at every turn.
Ashcroft will get his turn under the hot lights as well. Should be interesting.
posted by John at 10:34 AM
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