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Eleven Democrats Raise Concerns About 2001 Intelligence Warnings |
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Representatives Rahm Emanuel, John Murtha (D-PA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), William Delahunt (D-MA) and Adam Smith (D-WA) released the following letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to express concern over the Administration’s response to intelligence warnings prior to September 11th, 2001. Following is text of the letter: The Honorable Condoleezza Rice Dear Secretary Rice: We are writing to express concern over recent revelations regarding the Administration’s response to intelligence warnings prior to September 11th, 2001, and statements you subsequently made to the September 11th Commission regarding these warnings. As you know, Bob Woodward recently contended that CIA Director George Tenet and his counter terrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, called an emergency meeting with you on July 10, 2001. This meeting was two months before the September 11th attacks, and one month before the President was presented with the August 6th Presidential Daily Brief titled "bin Laden Determined to Attack United States." According to Mr. Woodward, at this meeting Tenet presented you with a large volume of intelligence indicating that an attack on the United States was imminent and immediate action was necessary. This meeting was not mentioned when you testified to the September 11th Commission on April 8th, 2004. At that hearing you said "we did not have specific threats to the homeland," and "In hindsight, if anything might have helped stop 9/11, it would have been better information about threats inside the United States." However, this weekend you stated that, “in July, we’re getting a steady stream of quite alarmist reports of potential attacks.” Your April, 2004 testimony does not appear to match your statement this weekend, and we would appreciate a more specific detailing of the level of information received by your office in July of 2001. We would also appreciate an explanation as to why, as you testified in April of 2004, the August 6th memo to the President "reviewed past intelligence reporting, mostly dating from the 1990s, regarding possible al-Qaeda plans to attack inside the United States," if more immediate intelligence had been received more than a month before the memo was issued to the President. We look forward to your prompt reply. Sincerely, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) |
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