9/11 report left out CIA investigation of intelligence failures

Key staff members of the 9/11 Commission left an internal CIA review of intelligence failures leading up to the attacks out its final report, the former executive director of the commission said Thursday.

The staffers made an agreement with the CIA's inspector general to not cite the internal investigation in the commission's final report, which was issued in July, Philip Zelikow told Government Executive. Zelikow led the 9/11 Commission staff until the body ended its work in August.

The Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 19 that a report on the internal CIA investigation has been stalled within the agency since June. The investigation was conducted to determine whether individual CIA officers should be held accountable for intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. The joint congressional committee that investigated intelligence failures related to the attacks requested the investigation in December 2002.

According to the Times, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and ranking member Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., sent a letter to the CIA in early October asking for the report to be released. The legislators are also key members of the conference committee meeting to craft a final bill on intelligence reform.

The 9/11 commission's final report did not identify any failures of specific government officials, but rather concluded that governmentwide and institutional failures, especially within the intelligence community, laid the groundwork for the attacks.

Zelikow said commission staff members interviewed officials working on the CIA investigation and reviewed material from the investigation. According to Zelikow, however, the investigation was not cited in the commission's final report because CIA personnel who were interviewed and named in the review were never told the information they provided would end up in the final 9/11 report.

Efforts to craft an intelligence reform bill remained stalled Thursday amid differences between House and Senate conferees, mainly over how much budget authority a new national intelligence director should have over Pentagon intelligence agencies.

Zelikow said he believes the House and Senate are close to reaching a compromise bill. He wrote a memo supporting a proposed compromise by House leaders in an effort to show that the House has moved away from an entrenched position. A national intelligence director must have some budget control over Defense intelligence agencies, or else the secretary of defense might divert funding into other areas, Zelikow contends.

"There's an opportunity here to try to close the gap," he said. "If either side declares it's totally dug in, then you have to shrug your shoulders. But I think this is a solvable problem."