Homeland Security

DATE=4/11/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=9-11 COMMISSION (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-314957

BYLINE=STEPHANIE HO

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Two members of the bipartisan commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States are welcoming the president's decision to declassify a document, issued a month before the attacks. It outlines intelligence regarding a possible strike inside the United States by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. V-O-A's Stephanie Ho has more from Washington.

TEXT: The document, declassified and approved for release Saturday, is titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U-S."

Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the so-called 9/11 commission investigating the attacks and whether they could have been prevented, told "Fox News Sunday" he believes the author of the document wanted to make clear to the president that terrorist attacks were possible in the United States.

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That is an important new piece of information, and it has to be looked at in the context of the summer of threats. There was an incredible amount of threats being accumulated by our intelligence agencies, indicating that a spectacular threat was imminent.

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Mr. Ben-Veniste says one concern raised by his reading of the document is that the two main U-S intelligence agencies -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency -- were apparently not communicating with each other.

/// BEN-VENISTE ACT ///

There have been many problems over the years. The F-B-I and the C-I-A did not talk to each other. Everyone knew that. The question was whether you could make them do that. And, the only way to make them do that was through leadership at the top, to make sure they butted heads together (debated the issues), get them in the same room.

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Fellow 9-11 commission member Slade Gorton singled out the F-B-I for criticism. He said recent American historical events have made it harder for the White House to have direct control over the F-B-I. Mr. Gorton said this point was made during closed door interviews last week with former President Clinton.

/// GORTON ACT // OPT ///

I guess, the greatest surprise to me was that President Clinton said how limited the White House is in dealing with the F-B-I. You know, after all of the scandals of J-Edgar Hoover, and some in the Nixon years, the White House felt it couldn't give direct directions to the F-B-I. And I think that was a great inhibiting factor.

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Mr. Gorton said he was especially interested to see that the document declassified Saturday referred to 70 F-B-I field investigations into suspected Osama bin Laden-related activities.

/// GORTON ACT ///

That would be sort of comforting to the person who read it the first time around. And I don't know where those 70 full field investigations were. That's what this week's hearings of the 9-11 commission are going to be about.

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The commission was in the headlines last week, as National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice testified in public and on the record about the Bush administration's handling of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Many of the questions directed to her concerned the document that was declassified Saturday.

Her testimony followed allegations by former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke, who had told the commission in public testimony that the Bush administration did not make terrorism an urgent priority until after September 11th.

The 9-11 commission meets on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, with a focus on law enforcement and the intelligence community. Among those who will be questioned are the former and current leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (SIGNED)

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