September 11th Advocates ACTION ALERT Regarding Declassification and Release of Documents

Subject: September 11th Advocates ACTION ALERT Regarding Declassification
and Release of Documents

*PLEASE ACT NOW
POST AND FORWARD WIDELY
PICK-UP THE PHONE
Thank you.
*

*
September 11th Advocates
Regarding Declassification and Release of Documents
June 18, 2007 *

*

The Public's Right to Know - Declassification and Release of Documents
petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/july10/petition.html
) surpassed 15,000
signatures. As promised, we have hand delivered it to lawmakers in
Washington, DC.
*

*UPDATE
*
Recently, during our meetings with lawmakers, we discussed the
declassification and release of all transcripts and documents relating
to the July 10, 2001 meeting that took place between former CIA Director
George Tenet and then National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, the
redacted 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks of
September 11, 2001 (JICI) and the CIA Inspector General's report, "CIA
Accountability With Respect To The 9/11 Attacks", as mentioned in the
Petition.

Almost six years have passed since September 11, 2001, yet critical
information continues to be withheld from the American public regarding
the attacks. Included in this statement is an "Action Alert" and
background information explaining the importance of transparency in our
government.

Since there is currently active legislation (Wyden-Bond Amendment
attached to bill #S.4) regarding the CIA Inspector General's Report, we
decided, for the moment, to focus our attention on this particular document.

After reviewing the evidence produced by the Joint Inquiry of Congress
into the 9/11 Attacks, both Republican and Democratic Congressmen agreed
that a CIA Inspector General review into individual responsibility was
necessary. Faced with the facts, these Congressmen understood that
accountability in the Intelligence Community was crucial. Their intent
was that a final declassified CIA/IG report was to be released to the
public and *where deemed appropriate by the report, for personnel at all
levels to be held accountable for any omission, commission, or failure
to meet professional standards in regard to the events of September 11,
2001*. Americans have the right to know that competent people are
serving them in these strategic positions - our safety depends on it.

Once again, we need your help to get this declassified report released
as soon as possible!!

**** *ACTION ALERT **** *

*
*Please call and/or fax the following people. Tell them /it is of the
utmost importance to the future safety of the American public that the
CIA Inspector General's Report on September 11th be released immediately!
/

*The White House
*Comments: (202) 456-1111 Fax (202) 456-2461

*DNI Mike McConnell
*Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Washington, DC
20511
(703) 733-8600

*General Michael Hayden, Director CIA
*(703) 482-0623; Fax (703) 482-1739


*Members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee 2007-2008
**
Democrats
*

*John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Chairman
*(202) 224-6472; Fax (202) 224-7665

*Dianne Feinstein, California
*(202) 224-3841; Fax: (202) 228-3954

*Ron Wyden, Oregon
*(202) 224-5244

*Evan Bayh, Indiana
*(202) 224-5623

*Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland
*(202) 224-4654

*Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin
*(202) 224-5323; Fax (202) 224-2725
*
Bill Nelson, Florida
*(202)-224-5274; Fax (202) 228-2183

*Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
*(202) 224-2921; Fax (202) 228-6362


*Republicans
*

*Christopher S. Bond, Missouri Vice-Chairman
*(202) 224-5721

*John Warner, Virginia
*(202) 224-2023; Fax (202) 224-6295

*Chuck Hagel, Nebraska
*(202) 224-4224; Fax: (202) 224-5213

*Saxby Chambliss, Georgia
*(202) 224-3521; Fax: (202) 224-0103

*Orrin Hatch, Utah
*(202) 224-5251; Fax: (202) 224-6331

*Olympia J. Snowe, Maine
*(202) 224-5344; Fax: (202) 224-1946

*Richard Burr, North Carolina
*(202) 224-3154; Fax (202) 228-2981

*

**BACKGROUND
*
*Joint Inquiry:
*
*In February of 2002*, The Joint Inquiry (JICI) was formed by the Senate
and House Select Committees on Intelligence in order to analyze what
information related to the attack was available to the intelligence
community prior to September 11, 2001. The JICI found systemic failures
and offered recommendations on improving intelligence community
operations. In their investigation, the JICI reviewed relevant
documents, held public and closed hearings and interviewed numerous
members of the intelligence community.

*In December 2002*, the final report from the Joint Congressional
Committee investigating 9/11 requested that the CIA's Inspector General
review the specific roles of individuals, since according to the
committee's report: */"Assured standards of accountability are critical
to developing the personal responsibility, urgency, and diligence which
our counterterrorism responsibility requires."/*/ /

To underscore the need for accountability the report requested that:
*/"the Inspector General at various agencies including the CIA, were
instructed to conduct investigations and reviews to determine whether
and to what extent personnel at all levels should be held accountable
for any omission, commission, or failure to meet professional standards
in regard to the identification, prevention, or disruption of terrorist
attacks, including the events of September 11, 2001".
/*
Senator Richard Shelby, who served on the Joint Inquiry and was privy to
all intelligence information reiterated the importance of accountability
in his additional views in the JICI, */" ... because we face a grave
ongoing threat, we must begin reforming the Community immediately.
Otherwise we will be unable to meet this threat ... If we are indeed at
war, accountability is more important now than ever, for it is through
insisting upon accountability that life-threatening problems may best be
fixed...."
/*
Because of the JICI"S recommendation, CIA Inspector General, John L.
Helgerson, spent 17 months exploring every area of the agency's
performance prior to 9/11. According to numerous media accounts
following this extensive review, the IG's final report stated that
*/certain individuals failed to meet an acceptable standard of
performance, and it recommended that their conduct be assessed by an
internal review board for possible disciplinary action. /* The final
report was then given to Porter Goss, the CIA Director at that time,


*Senate Intelligence Committee:

*In August 2005, after almost one year of reviewing the report and
giving certain individuals a chance to rebut the claims against them,
CIA Director Porter Goss, finally released the report to Congress. After
an additional six weeks, *Goss rejected appeals from both congressional
intelligence committees* *to make it public. No action has ever been
taken against the individuals named by the Inspector General and
presumably many are still at their jobs.

*Correspondence then began between the Senate Intelligence Committee and
the CIA requesting the declassification and release of the report. The
requests are as follows:

*August 2005: *request for declassification and release by
Chairman Roberts to then CIA Director Porter Goss. DENIED!

*January 2006: *request for redaction and release by Senator
Wyden to Director Goss. DENIED!

*May 2006: *issue of declassification and release raised again
during confirmation hearings for new CIA Director General
Michael Hayden, who stated in a letter to Senator Wyden that he
"intended to examine the issue."

*June 2006: *Committee staff prepared a proposed redacted
version of the Executive Summary of the report, which Chairman
Roberts sent to General Hayden for Comment.

*August 2006: *General Hayden notified the Committee that he did
not intend to declassify the report.

*September 2006: *Chairman Roberts forwarded the proposed
redacted Executive Summary to DNI Negroponte and requested that
he work with the Committee to determine what redactions would be
necessary in order to release the report.

*November 2006: *Negroponte declined to do so.

*January 2007: *upon the organization of the Committee in the
current Congress, Chairman Rockefeller, Vice Chairman Bond and
Senator Wyden wrote to Director Negroponte with their comments
on his [Negroponte's] November letter and again highlighted the
need for this report to be declassified and made public. NO
RESPONSE!

*March 2007: *Senate Bill S.4, legislation enacting the 9/11
Commission recommendations to make America more secure,
including the amendment to release the CIA's IG report on 9/11,
passed with a vote of 60-38.

*June 2007: *The Bill, S.4, remains stalled, the Commission
recommendations have yet to be implemented and the CIA/IG report
remains hidden.


*Media:
*
In his Newsweek article of January 31, 2007, Michael Isikoff said the
following:

/"The report, prepared by the CIA's inspector general, is the
only major 9/11 government review that has still not been made
publicly available."

"When it was completed in August 2005, NEWSWEEK and other
publications reported that it contained sharp criticisms of
former CIA director George Tenet and other top agency officials
for failing to address the threat posed by Al Qaeda, as well as
other mistakes that might have prevented the attacks."
/
Isikoff goes on to say, /"What's really behind the intelligence
community's refusal to release the report, the senators suspect,
is a desire to protect the reputations of some of the main figures."
/

/
/
The May 17, 2007 Associated Press article by Katherine Shrader said the
following:


/"It's amazing the efforts the administration is going to
stonewall this," Wyden said. "The American people have a right
to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those
critical months before 9/11.... I am going to bulldog this until
the public gets it."

Completed in June 2005, the inspector general's report examined
the personal responsibility of individuals at the CIA before and
after the attacks. Other agencies' reviews examined structural
problems within their organizations.

/

/


/

*For Immediate Release
June 18, 2007 *


*Statement of September 11th Advocates
Regarding the Release of the CIA Inspector General's Report – Post 9/11
June 18, 2007 *



*"The report, prepared by the CIA's inspector general, is the only major
9/11 government review that has still not been made publicly available."
*Michael Isikoff, *Newsweek,* January 31, 2007


Almost six years have passed since the attacks of September 11, 2001,
yet critical information continues to be withheld from the American
public regarding the attacks.

In 2002, after reviewing the evidence produced by the Joint Inquiry of
Congress into the 9/11 Attacks, both Republican and Democratic
Congressmen agreed that a CIA Inspector General review into individual
responsibility was necessary. Faced with the facts, these Congressmen
understood that accountability in the Intelligence Community was
crucial. Their intent was that a final declassified CIA/IG report be
released to the public and *where deemed appropriate by the report, for
personnel at all levels to be held accountable for any omission,
commission, or failure to meet professional standards in regard to the
events of September 11, 2001*. To date, despite enormous efforts from
the Senate Intelligence Committee, nothing has happened.

Michael Isikoff wrote in his January 2007 Newsweek article that, /"When
it [the CIA/IG report] was completed in August 2005, NEWSWEEK and other
publications reported that it contained sharp criticisms of former CIA
director George Tenet and other top agency officials for failing to
address the threat posed by Al Qaeda, as well as other mistakes that
might have prevented the attacks."

/Isikoff goes on to say, /"What's really behind the intelligence
community's refusal to release the report, the senators suspect, is a
desire to protect the reputations of some of the main figures."
/
Since sources and methods are not revealed in a declassified report,
national security is protected and thus not an excuse for withholding
this document. Since when does embarrassment meet any standard for
keeping a government report secret? Isn't it time for our elected and
appointed officials to do the job that they were sent to our Nation's
Capitol for: to protect the public and */not /*reputations?

Americans have the right to know that the problems identified in this
report have been addressed and corrected. We have the right to know that
competent people are serving us in strategic positions – our safety and
security depends on it. Incompetence costs lives.

Legislation, co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden D-OR and Kit Bond R-MO,
calling for the release of the 9/11 CIA/IG report, already exists, has
passed the Senate and has strong bipartisan support. Yet, the White
House and the CIA continue to refuse to release the already declassified
version of the report.

It is sadly and abundantly clear that, once again, only heightened
public pressure on the Administration and the CIA will force
accountability. We call on the public and the press to demand the
release of the declassified version of the 9/11 CIA's Inspector General
report.

Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken

---

Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection.
Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.