BadGimp

Classified: Censoring the Report About 9-11?

Bush officials are refusing to permit the release of matters already in the public domain - including the existence of intelligence documents referred to on the CIA Web site.

By Michael Isikoff
NEWSWEEK

June 2 issue - Why is the Bush administration blocking the release of an 800-page congressional report about 9-11? The bipartisan report deals with law-enforcement and intelligence failures that preceded the attacks. For months, congressional leaders and administration officials have battled over declassifying the document, preventing a public release once slated for this week. NEWSWEEK has learned new details about the dispute.

AMONG THE PORTIONS of the report the administration refuses to declassify, sources say, are chapters dealing with two politically and diplomatically sensitive issues: the details of daily intelligence briefings given to Bush in the summer of 2001 and evidence pointing to Saudi government ties to Al Qaeda. Bush officials have taken such a hard line, sources say, that they're refusing to permit the release of matters already in the public domain - including the existence of intelligence documents referred to on the CIA Web site.

One document is called the PDB, the President's Daily Brief. The congressional report contains details of PDBs provided to Bush (and top national- security aides) prior to 9-11. The PDBs included warnings about possible attacks by Al Qaeda. (One PDB was given at the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Aug. 6, and dealt with the possibility that Al Qaeda might hijack airplanes.) But an administration review committee overseen by CIA Director George Tenet has refused to declassify anything that even refers to the existence of PDBs - though they are described on the CIA's own Web site (www.CIA.gov). A U.S. intelligence official said the review committee must consult with the White House before releasing anything. But the official denied charges by Florida Sen. Bob Graham, a Democratic presidential candidate, that Tenet's review committee was covering up White House embarrassments. "We're not playing politics," the official says. "Our concern is national security."
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Well this is interesting. Where will it lead? I so distrust the mainstream news that I am half betting this is a drip drip release effort. Culminating in a "See we told you there was nothing there" response from the Bush mouth pieces.

BadGimp
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posted by BadGimp @ 10:34 PM