No 'Smoking Guns' in Reports, Head of Sept. 11 Panel Says

[jbfam4]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/national/11TERR.html


No 'Smoking Guns' in Reports, Head of Sept. 11 Panel Says
By PHILIP SHENON

Published: February 11, 2004


WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 — The chairman of the commission on the Sept. 11 attacks said Tuesday that there were "no smoking guns" in classified Oval Office intelligence reports to suggest that President Bush and senior White House aides fumbled intelligence warning of the possibility of a terrorist strike before the attacks.

The comments from the chairman of the panel, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, are likely to be welcomed at the White House. Mr. Kean made them on the same day that the White House relented in the face of a subpoena threat and agreed to allow all 10 members of the independent panel to review a summary of the intelligence reports, the President's Daily Brief, that the Central Intelligence Agency prepares each morning for the Oval Office.

Citing executive privilege, White House lawyers had insisted that the information be limited to a four-member delegation from the commission, including Mr. Kean, that was allowed to review edited sections of the reports last year.

Until Tuesday, White House lawyers had blocked the commission from providing all 10 members of the panel with a report summarizing information in handwritten and computer-generated notes taken by the four-member group.


"There were no smoking guns, nothing that would make you sit up and say, `Wow,' " said Mr. Kean, who read through parts of the daily briefings that reached Mr. Bush and President Bill Clinton.

[bobbieinok]

1. what's Kean's background again??? sthg that should disqualigy him for this

...

[indepat]

2. Well, glad that's over: guess the whole thing was much ado over nothing