Sunday, May 19, 2002

An Eye on the Ballot Box in Terror's Aftermath
The ferocity of the White House counterattack this week, when confronted by criticism that President Bush and his top advisers knew more than the public about hijacking threats before Sept. 11, is a sure sign that they recognize the political danger should Democrats press the issue through the coming election campaign.

The central question is where the public will place responsibility if excessive information-hoarding within the intelligence and law enforcement communities left the nation's guard down as Al Qaeda terrorists trained and prepared for their attack. In part, the answer will depend on whether any inquiry is carried out by a divided and partisan Congress or by an independent commission, and on whether any newly discovered information leaks out bit by bit or is kept secret until after the election.

Whatever the political fallout, it seems inevitable that the public will demand that its curiosity be assuaged and that those in Congress who want to overhaul the intelligence apparatus will demand the facts.

There are increasing calls for a detailed look at whether the government could have connected the dots of the Sept. 11 plot, at least enough to sound a specific alarm relating to aviation security and to mount a manhunt for Al Qaeda operatives in the country, some of whom had been training in flight schools.

The intensity of interest surrounding the new disclosures underscored how much Americans remain seized by the Sept. 11 attacks. The continuing fighting in Afghanistan, for the moment, was overshadowed by the question of whether Mr. Bush and the intelligence community were at a sufficient level of alert last summer, when the president was taking a long vacation in his first year in office.

At a more detailed level, specialists were asking why the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency were unable to integrate critical intelligence leads. In the public mind, there may be other worries: Do the same problems continue today? Is there a continuing danger of another devastating attack? Has anybody caulked over the cracks between the agencies so that no more crucial intelligence can slip through them?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/19/politics/19ASSE.html?todaysheadlines

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