Homeland Security

DATE=11/21/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=W-T-C / SUBPOENA (L-O)

NUMBER=2-310110

BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU

DATELINE=NEW YORK

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will seek a court's ruling before he will agree to hand over tapes and transcripts of calls made to emergency services during the September 11, 2001, attack on the city. From V-O-A's New York Bureau, Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau has the details.

TEXT: The independent commission investigating the September 11th attacks has repeatedly asked city officials for tapes and transcripts of calls made to emergency workers the day of the attacks, as well as interviews with firefighters that the New York City Fire Department subsequently conducted.

On Thursday, the bipartisan commission announced that it had issued a subpoena to New York City.

The bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was formed by the U-S Congress to look into the state of U-S readiness before the September 11th attacks, and the nation's response. The group, headed by former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean (kane), is charged with making recommendations by the end of May for ways to prevent similar attacks in the future.

The Commission complains that its access to necessary documents has been too limited. And the 10-member panel says New York continues to impede the investigation by refusing to hand over the tapes and transcripts. It says these are "critical to understanding the interaction between members of the public and the city" on September 11th, 2001.

But city officials refuse to turn over material that includes calls made by people who died in the attacks or believed their lives were at risk, saying such a move would violate the privacy of the victims. New York has agreed to release some data, but only after editing what it considers "intensely emotional statements." Mayor Bloomberg says he intends to challenge the subpoena in court.

/// BLOOMBERG ACT ///

I think the Commission should get on with the business of what it was created for, trying to find out how it happened that these planes were able to be taken over and flown into buildings, costing 28-hundred lives.

/// END ACT ///

Last week, the White House agreed to give the Commission access to some intelligence briefings, but some members say the access is too restricted. Media organizations are also demanding access to the records. The Commission says it will not be able to meet its May deadline, unless it receives greater cooperation. (SIGNED)

NEB/NYC/BJS/KL/TW