The CIA is used to operating in the shadows, but the agency needs to step into the sunshine at least long enough to explain its failure to protect this nation against international terrorism. More than 20 months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the American people are still largely in the dark about what when wrong, why, and who shares responsibility.
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., may be a little more vocal on the subject now that he is a presidential candidate, but the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been sounding the alarm for months over the Bush administration's unwillingness to come clean on the failures of our intelligence agencies. Graham has accused the administration of a coverup as it continues to block the release of a report written following a six-month joint investigation into the condition of our intelligence agencies before and after Sept. 11 by the House and Senate intelligence committees. Last year, 25 pages of the 450-page report were released, painting a distressing picture of the CIA, FBI and other law enforcement agencies hobbled by poor communication, turf battles and incompetence. These were cited as some of the reasons important clues on al-Qaida were missed.
But the White House refuses to declassify much of the rest of the report, despite assurances by Graham that it could be done without jeopardizing national security. No doubt Graham is right when he says the White House is acting to avoid embarrassment.
Just as infuriating is the casual way George Tenet, the CIA director, seems to be handling the failures of counterterrorism specialists under his supervision. He is now refusing to turn over the names of the counterterrorism officials who waited 20 months to put Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi on a federal watch list. Both men were known to have attended an al-Qaida meeting in Malaysia in early 2000 and later were among the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.
But Tenet is refusing to reveal the names even though he promised Congress seven months ago that he would provide them. In addition, the CIA has promoted two of the supervisors of the unit responsible at that time for keeping track of al-Qaida members and activities. It all sounds like business as usual at an agency that is historically contemptuous of any oversight or self-examination.
The public has a right to know why the billions of dollars we pour annually into a black budget for intelligence services didn't buy us protection from a massive and highly coordinated terrorist attack. The continued secrecy serves the interests of those with jobs to protect, but it harm the nation's interests.
