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October 24, 2005

Gorelick and Zelikow, birds of a feather?

A group called 9/11 CitizensWatch suggests that both Zelikow and Gorelick were out to cover for their respective administrations from the start:

9/11 CitizensWatch joined the families in calling for current and former administration leaders, as well as National Security Director Condaleeza Rice, to testify under oath and in public. Rice did so, on the condition that the Commission could not ask any other cabinet-level official to appear, and the Commission acceded.

Not a single executive branch official or federal agency employee was issued a subpoena to testify, though several resisted. After long periods of foot-dragging the agencies reportedly complied, but only after public exposure and commentary. Commission reluctance to hold individuals responsible for their perceived failures meant that key testimony was never required and that needed reforms or restructuring, discipline or demotion still remain unaddressed.

The Commission accepted a deal to radically limit their access to the White House documents detailing just what high-level administration officials knew in advance of the attacks. The Presidential Daily Briefings or PDBs included "BIN LADEN DETERMINED TO STRIKE IN U.S." (dated Aug. 6, 2001) and warned of imminent hijackings. Only two delegates of the Commission were to be allowed to see pre-edited versions of these documents: Executive Director Philip Zelikow and Commissioner Jamie Gorelick. The other commissioners would have to rely on Zelikow and Gorelick to report back to them, based on their notes, which the White House would also be allowed to redact. Commissioners Max Cleland and Tim Roemer both objected to the deal.

Eventually, a second compromise was worked out, letting additional Commission members see other selected PDBs from earlier months. Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive argued that PDB's are not as sensitive as claimed and that several have been released publicly from President Johnson's term in office. (Slate, MSN.com 3/22/04).

Here is the original article:

After much sturm und drang, a compromise was worked out allowing three commission members and the staff director to see the originals of the PDBs from the Bush and Clinton years and then write up a summary for their peers.

I don't see a mention of Gorelick specifically, although I would bet the three commissioners mentioned were Gorelick, Kean, and Hamilton. Maybe the 9/11 families had more information than was in the article?

Posted by Mike at October 24, 2005 01:12 PM

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Posted by: Vi Adkins at October 24, 2005 01:39 PM

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