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Report: CIA's 9/11 review calls for rebuke of officials

WASHINGTON - The CIA's independent watchdog has recommended disciplinary reviews for current and former officials who were involved in failed intelligence efforts before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The news agency did not cite its source for the report.

CIA director Porter Goss now must decide whether the disciplinary proceedings go forward.

The proceedings, formally called an accountability board, were recommended by the CIA inspector general, John Helgerson. It remains unclear which people are identified for the accountability boards in the highly classified report spanning hundreds of pages. The report was delivered to Congress on Tuesday night.

After a two-year review of what went wrong before the suicide hijackings, Helgerson harshly criticizes a number of the agency's most senior officials in the report, the AP reported. Among them are former CIA director George Tenet, former clandestine service chief Jim Pavitt and former counterterrorism center head Cofer Black. The former officials are likely candidates for proceedings before an accountability board.

The boards could take a number of actions, including letters of reprimand or dismissal. They could also clear them of wrongdoing.

Tenet and Pavitt declined to comment. Black could not be reached Thursday.

Despite public outcries for accountability, many in the intelligence community have said they think Goss would be loathe to try to discipline former senior officials and cause unrest within the agency.

He may not want to go after less senior people still in the CIA's employ. Intelligence veterans say these CIA employees are the government's mostly highly trained workers in counterterrorism and before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, devoted their time to trying to stop al-Qaida. The hearings would force them to defend their careers rather than working against extremist groups.

In addition, the numerous investigations after Sept. 11 determined an intelligence overhaul was essential to attack Muslim extremism.

Some Congress members - including California Rep. Jane Harman, the Intelligence Committee's senior Democrat - are pushing for the CIA to produce a declassified version of the report so the public can debate these and other issues. Some family members of 9/11 victims have also called for the report's immediate release.

"The findings in this report must be shared with all members of Congress and with the American public to ensure that the problems identified are addressed and corrected, thus moving to restore faith in this agency," a group called Sept. 11 Advocates said in a statement Thursday.

Beth Marple, spokeswoman for National Intelligence director John Negroponte, said: "As expected, there has been discussion between director Negroponte and director Goss about this report. But there were absolutely no efforts to kill it."

The CIA declined to comment on the substance of the report.

Accountability boards are typically made up of top CIA officials. In the case of the most serious issues, it would not be unusual for the agency's No. 3, the executive director, to lead the proceedings.

[Last modified August 26, 2005, 01:37:18]