Bush Still Stonewalling on National Security (DNC Release - long)

[MaineDem]

For Immediate Release
August 8, 2005

Contact: Karen Finney - 202-863-8148

BUSH STILL STONEWALLING ON NATIONAL SECURITY

In the months following 9/11, the Bush Administration consistently stymied
efforts to get to the bottom of the nation's security and intelligence
failures. They opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission, slow-walked its
requests for documents related to the attacks, and opposed requests for
interviews and public testimony. Four years later, the Bush Administration is
still refusing to cooperate with the 9/11 commission, refusing to release
information so the 9/11 Public Discourse Project - the unofficial continuation
of the 9/11 Commission - can complete an updated report on what progress has
been made in ensuring our national security. Once again, the Bush
Administration's failure to be honest with the American people about the
challenges we face is undermining our national security.

WHITE HOUSE ONCE AGAIN REFUSING TO COOPERATE WITH 9/11 COMMISSION INVESTIGATION

White House Refusing To Release Documents To 9/11 Commission. The 9/11 Public
Discourse Project requested documents and interviews from the White House and
various agencies on what progress has been made on the nation's security since
the initial 9/11 Commission Report. The group asked that documents be provided
by August 15 but the Administration has failed to respond to the requests,
claiming that "there is ample public information available for them to review."
The 9/11 group plans to release their updated report card in September, close
to the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

 9/11 Group Members Call The White House's Refusal To Cooperate "Tone
Deaf." Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey who led the
bipartisan Sept. 11 commission, said "It's very disappointing . . . All we're
trying to do is make the public safer." Timothy J. Roemer, a Democratic member
of the commission and a former Congressman, called the White House "tone deaf"
saying "you'd think that the administration would be doing all it could to help
address some of the answers that the 9/11 commission proposed to make the
country safer," he said. Mr. Kean said there had been no response of any sort
to interview requests for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice; Porter J. Goss, the C.I.A. director; Robert S. Mueller
III, the F.B.I. director, and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of
staff, among others.

BUSH HAS HISTORY OF STONEWALLING ON NATIONAL SECURITY

ADMINISTRATION OPPOSED 9/11 COMMISSION INVESTIGATION

Bush Opposed Independent September 11th Investigation. Immediately following
Senator Daschle's call for an independent commission to investigate the events
of September 11th, the Administration opposed the idea. As reported by the New
York Times, "The Bush administration adamantly opposes an independent
commission to investigate the terrorist attacks last year. Democrats in the
Senate, who might be expected to want to investigate the president without
sharing the spotlight, are leading the charge for a bipartisan commission."


ADMINISTRATION REFUSED TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS FOR INITIAL REPORT

2003: GOP Commission Member Surprised by Administration "Indifference."
Commission member and former Republican Senator Slade Gorton stated he was
"startled by the 'indifference' of some executive branch agencies in making
material available to the commission*" and stated, "'This lack of cooperation,
if it extends anywhere else, is going to make it very difficult' for the
commission to finish its work by next May," according to the New York Times.


White House Permitted Commission To Review Just 24 Out Of 360 Presidential
Briefings. Kean and other commissioners complained they couldn't write their
report without seeing exactly what Bush, and Bill Clinton before him, had been
told about the threat of Al Qaeda. After resisting, the White House agreed to a
complex deal that would allow four panel officials to review the PDBs and then
brief the full 10-member panel. The four-member team asked to look at 360
presidential daily briefs dating back to 1998; White House counsel Alberto
Gonzales permitted them to see just 24 and required that any notes be pre-
approved by the White House.

 Other Federal Agencies Followed Bush Lead And Refused to Cooperate.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the North American Aerospace Defense
Command (NORAD) also stonewalled on providing the commission with documents
relevant to its investigation. The commission ultimately was forced to issue
subpoenas to the FAA and the Department of Defense.

 NYC Mayor Bloomberg Also Followed Bush's Example and Stonewalled
Commission. Republican New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rebuffed all
attempts by the 9/11 commission to obtain emergency calls on the day of the
attacks. The commission was forced to subpoena the city's records. 11/20/03]

Commission Chairman Said Limiting White House Documents Would "Leave Questions
Unanswered." Commission chairman and former Republican Governor Thomas Kean
called on Bush to provide access to the requested documents, saying, "Any
document that has to do with this investigation cannot be beyond our reach. I
will not stand for it* There are a lot of theories about 9/11, and as long as
there is any document out there that bears on any of those theories, we're
going to leave questions unanswered. And we cannot leave questions unanswered."


Commission Vice-Chair Said Commission Had No Alternative But to Agree to
Compromise. Commission vice chair and former Rep. Rep. Lee Hamilton noted that
even after the agreement with the White House the commission would still have
preferred to have full access to the documents, but took the compromise because
otherwise "We would have had no access."

WHITE HOUSE OPPOSED RICE'S TESTIMONY IN FRONT OF COMMISSION

Secretive Cheney Strongly Opposed To Rice Testimony. With Cheney and the White
House afraid to testify, Gozales constructed a "compromise" that severely
limited any further testimony and kept Bush and Cheney behind closed doors.
Knight Ridder reported that "One senior administration official, who insisted
on anonymity, said the strongest opposition to letting Rice testify publicly
came from Cheney's office. After negotiating the outlines of a deal for Rice's
public testimony, Gonzales solidified the arrangement in a follow-up letter to
the Sept. 11 commission Tuesday morning. In another concession, the White House
lawyer declared Bush's willingness to meet privately, together with Cheney,
before the entire panel."

**********

Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats.
org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's
committee.

[madfloridian]

1. 24 out of 360 briefings....worse than stonewalling.

White House Permitted Commission To Review Just 24 Out Of 360 Presidential Briefings.