Ex-Boss: FBI Lacked Means to Stop 9/11

— -- Ex-Boss: FBI Lacked Means to Stop 9/11W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 8 — Rejecting accusations that FBI was lax infighting terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks, former directorLouis Freeh told a congressional panel today that it did the bestit could given legal limitations and insufficient resourcesprovided by Congress.

Freeh told the House and Senate intelligence committees that hehas seen no evidence that the FBI and intelligence agencies couldhave prevented the attacks. The committees are conducting a jointinquiry into intelligence failures leading up to the attacks.

Freeh, who stepped down in June 2001 after eight years headingthe FBI, rejected some of the key points made by inquiry staff:that the bureau was more focused on prosecuting terrorists thanpreventing attacks and that the CIA and FBI have not cooperated infighting terrorists.

He said that with terrorists taking haven in foreign countries,the FBI and CIA's ability to stop them will inevitably be limited.

"Al Qaeda type organizations, state sponsors of terrorism likeIran and the threats they pose to America are beyond the competenceof the FBI and the CIA to address," he said.

He said the FBI was denied the staff and money it needed tofight terrorism. In 2000, for example, he said he requested 864additional people for counterterrorism at a cost of $380.8 million.He said he received five people and $7.4 million.

Similarly, Congress was slow to provide funding for improvingthe FBI's antiquated computer systems, Freeh said. Lawmakers haveidentified the FBI's technological problems as a major hindrance tothe sharing of information.

The FBI's ability to stop terrorists was also set back by lawsrestricting its investigations, Freeh said. Many of thoserestrictions were changed after the attacks.

"I repeatedly testified before Congress that FBI agents werestatutorily barred from obtaining portions of credit reports oncertain national security subjects which used car dealers couldorder and read," he said.

Speaking before Freeh, inquiry staff director Eleanor Hill saidtoday that intelligence agencies had made "several impressiveadvances" in fighting terrorism since the end of the Cold War. Inmany cases, agencies could do little about factors beyond theircontrol, such as al Qaeda finding sanctuary in Taliban-controlledAfghanistan, she said.

But Hill said intelligence agencies "did not fully learn thelessons of past attacks," dating back to the 1993 World TradeCenter bombing.

"On Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda was able to exploit the gaps inthe U.S. counterterrorism structure to carry out its devastatingattacks," she said.

The inquiry has not found any single piece of evidence in thehands of intelligence agencies that, by itself, would haveprevented the attacks. But it has identified a series of cluesthat, if pieced together, might have led to the hijacking plot.

Two of the biggest clues involved the FBI in the months betweenFreeh's departure and the attacks. One was a July 2001 memo by aPhoenix FBI agent warning that al Qaeda might be training terroristpilots at U.S. flight schools. The other was the August 2001 arrestof a suspicious student pilot, Zacarias Moussaoui, who has sincebeen charged with conspiring in the attacks.

As the committees wind down their inquiry, they're looking toset up an independent commission to conduct a broaderinvestigation, looking at issues such as airline security andimmigration in addition to intelligence.

The commission could be included in legislation 2003intelligence activities, expected to be considered by thecommittees late today.

But a leader of a group of victims' relatives, Stephen Push ofFamilies of Sept. 11, said talks between lawmakers and the Bushadministration about the commission have been slowed by new WhiteHouse demands. He said they included differences about thecommission's membership, the length of the investigation, and theadministration's control over the final report.