The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released the
declassified summary of a report on Tuesday that accuses CIA
officers of not having worked "effectively and cooperatively"
against al Qaida targets before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A review by the CIA Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that
CIA officers worked hard against al Qaida targets, but they "did
not always work effectively and cooperatively, however," said the
executive summary of the OIG's report on CIA's performance prior to
the Sept. 11 attacks.
The report said the OIG's review team had found neither a
"single point of failure" nor a "silver bullet" that would have
enabled the intelligence community to predict or prevent the 9/11
attacks, but found failure to implement and manage important
processes, to follow through with orations, and to properly share
and analyze critical data.
If intelligence officers had been able to view and analyze the
full range of information available before Sept. 11, 2001, they
could have developed a more informed context in which to assess the
threat reporting of the spring and summer that year, the report
said.
The US government and the intelligence agency, however, had not
had a comprehensive strategy for combating al Qaida before Sept.
11, the report said.
The summary report, which was completed in June 2005, was
declassified at the request of Congress, which passed a bill
earlier this month to implement some of the recommendations of the
9/11 commission and require the CIA's OIG to make available to the
public within 30 days a version of the report's executive
summary.
In a statement, CIA Director Mike Hayden said that while the
agency was meeting "the dictates of the law, I want to make it
clear that this declassification was neither my choice nor my
preference."
He added that two directors of National Intelligence had
supported the agency's position against the release of the
report.
Hayden said the release of this report "would distract officers
serving their country on the frontlines of a global conflict."
"It will, at a minimum, consume time and attention revisiting
ground that is already well plowed. I also remain deeply concerned
about the chilling effect that may follow publication of the
previously classified work, findings, and recommendations of the
Office of Inspector General," he said.
When the CIA was declassifying the report, it focused chiefly on
the protection of essential sources and methods, and it was
unnecessary and unwise to permit identification of officers below
the level of Center Chief, even if only by title, and those
passages had been deleted, Hayden said.
"Counter-terrorism is an exceptionally difficult challenge. The
risks, and the stakes, are extremely high," he said.
Arguing that enemies of the US were "adaptive, resilient, and
determined to strike us again here at home," Hayden acknowledged
that there are limits to what intelligence can accomplish, and
there can be no guarantee of perfect security.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2007)
