Members Upset Over 9/11 Probe Leadership
By Mark Preston and John Bresnahan
As Congress finishes its joint inquiry into the alleged intelligence failures prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, some Members of the bicameral investigative committee are grumbling about the way senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers have conducted the probe.
"The big four has made the decisions, and the professional staff has pretty well done what they pleased," Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said of the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence panels. "Right now the professional staff does not coordinate with the regular staff, which makes it very difficult for individual Members. I think it has been very unfortunate and I have not been happy how it has been run."
Roberts is a pivotal player in the investigation because he is in line to become the top Republican on the Senate intelligence panel next year amid a dramatic reshuffling of the committee due to term limits and retirements, and thus could be forced to sign off on any final report on the Sept. 11 probe.
Rep. Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), a longtime member of the House Intelligence panel, complained that rank-and-file Members have not been given enough time by the joint committee's staff to review their preliminary findings before the panel holds hearings.
"Some of my colleagues are saying that we need to see testimony, we need to see reports sooner than the night before they are issued," said Roemer, suggesting on several occasions that Members and the media received the information at the same time.
"Getting it so we could really prepare for hearings in advance has been a problem," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
But Senate Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham (D-Fla.) defended the decision to keep some information classified and said the four top lawmakers on both Intelligence panels consented when asked to do so by the FBI.
"We all decided at the request of the FBI to hold this information very tightly to a base group plus a small number of joint investigative staff who had been working on the issues," Graham said. "I think it was absolutely the right thing to do."
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) acknowledged it has been difficult at times to get information on a timely basis but said the fault lies with the Bush administration - not the committee's leadership.
"I think they did the best they could," Levin said. "I think the administration did not give the go-ahead on releasing information publicly."
This is not the first time members of the bicameral panel have complained about decisions made by Graham and his Republican counterpart, House Intelligence Chairman Porter Goss (Fla.).
Earlier this year, the two Intelligence chairmen, who also head the joint committee, agreed to allow the FBI to question Members about leaking classified information to the media.
"A lot of people thought that jumped Senate rules, but we went along with it because that is what Goss and Graham wanted to do," said Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was probably a mistake. A mistake from the standpoint that we were investigating somebody and then we asked them to investigate us in the middle of it, and I think that may have disrupted the investigation some."
But Graham defended the decision to allow the FBI to talk to Members after classified information disclosed at a private meeting with Members was reported by the media.
"One of the reasons I think we did the right thing is because it wasn't just Members of Congress and staff who were in the room," Graham said. "There was a substantial number of executive agency personnel and intelligence agency personnel [present]. So you either had a choice to do multiple investigations by different groups or have one entity do all of it."
Graham said the next challenge for the joint inquiry will be to complete the report by Jan. 1, 2003. "If it is complete we can start to move forward with the legislative recommendations that will be made, which I suspect will be extensive," he said.
But it is likely the report will need Roberts' stamp of approval before it is submitted to Congress. The Kansas Senator is in line to replace Shelby as the ranking Republican on the Intelligence panel. Roberts would not discuss his likely ascension to the panel's top GOP post, but he indicated that if another bicameral panel is convened he would make sure that all members were privy to the same information.
"I would hope that anybody that would lead either, the chairmanship or ranking [member], would not have a situation where other Members of the committee are just window dressing," Roberts said.
In addition to Shelby, four other Senate Republicans will leave the panel at the end of this Congress. In contrast, only one Senate Democrat, Graham, will step down due to term limits. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.) is in line to take the top Democratic spot. While Levin has seniority, he said this week he planned to keep his ranking Democratic post on the Armed Services Committee.
Rockefeller, too, refused to talk about the possibility he might be the top Democrat on the panel in the 108th Congress, saying the decision is up to Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) and his Democratic colleagues. Still, Rockefeller said that the panel's term limits should be revisited.
"I think it is a big mistake both parties make," said Rockefeller, who would have to abdicate his ranking Democratic post on the Veterans' Affairs Committee to take the top Intelligence job. "I know a lot about health care, but it took me about 10 to 12 years to learn that because it is very complicated. This is much more complicated and an eight-year term is a total non-starter."
"This is a committee where the learning curve is very difficult and institutional memory is important," added Sen. Mike DeWine (Ohio), who will be one of three Senate Republican veterans on the committee in the 108th Congress. "Past experience from Members is important, and I think we should really rethink it and look at that."
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who is scheduled to rotate off the committee this year, might seek a waiver to stay on the panel, but he has not made a decision to do so yet.
Across the Capitol, Goss is expected to seek a waiver that would allow him to keep the top GOP post on the Intelligence Committee.
It is widely assumed that he will be back next year as chairman due to the fact that Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) personally asked him to run for office again. Goss had already announced that he was leaving office before Hastert's intercession, and if Republicans retain their majority, Goss is sure to be the chairman. Goss declined to comment on the issue.
Senior GOP lawmakers and aides said Hastert has a list of about 20 Members who want to get on the committee, although details on who is seeking the assignment proved hard to come by. "The Speaker keeps that one very close to the vest," noted a GOP leader. "That's not something he discusses with others."
House Democrats will also have several vacancies with the top spot on the panel potentially up for grabs.
House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will leave the committee this year, putting Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) in line to take over as ranking Democrat.
But Bishop is angling for a seat on the Appropriations Committee, and though he won't say so publicly, Democratic sources claim that Bishop would give up his Intelligence post for the Appropriations seat. That would put Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.) in line for the top Democratic spot on the panel.
"This is not a committee that one goes one for routine reasons," said Bishop. "It's really a sacrifice. But it has a tremendous impact on our country and the entire world."
Harman, along with Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), gained national exposure for her role as the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee's subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Hastert and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) elevated the status of the subcommittee to help coordinate the Congressional response to the attacks, and both Harman and Chambliss have been pushing for more aggressive counter-terrorism efforts.
Harman declined to talk about Bishop and the possibility of taking over the top Democratic spot on the panel, although she did note that she actually has served on Intelligence for six months longer than her colleague.
The California Democrat was appointed to the panel during the latter half of the 104th Congress, and stayed on it into the 105th Congress. In 1998, Harman left Capitol Hill in an unsuccessful bid to become California governor, but returned to Congress in 2000 and was reappointed to Intelligence by Gephardt.
"I love the [Intelligence] committee," said Harman.
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