Terry Everett, April 12, 2004

Last week, all eyes were on the testimony of Bush Administration National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). Dr. Rice made clear that the Bush White House had not ignored the threat posed by terrorism and Al-Qaeda as alleged last month by former bureaucrat Richard Clarke.

In mid March, in a book timed for release to receive maximum publicity, Richard Clarke blamed the Bush Administration for not acting to prevent the horrific events of 9/11. He also charged that his former boss, Dr. Rice, did not adequately warn the President of the dangers posed by Al-Qaeda.

Dr. Rice told the 9/11 Commissioners last week in a public hearing that the Administration did take terrorism seriously before 9/11, but that no one was able to foresee the imminent attacks.

The Bush Administration had only been in office eight months when the 9/11/01 attacks occurred. Because of the late outcome of the 2000 election, the Bush White House had a very short period to transition into office and take on the affairs of government and national security. Despite these set-backs, the new Bush Administration did take Al-Qaeda seriously.

Dr. Rice noted that the Bush White House, in an effort to ensure a continuity of intelligence, even took the unusual step of retaining many former Clinton Administration officials, including CIA Director, George Tenet, FBI director, Louis Freeh, and the entire Clinton counterterrorism team on the National Security Council staff, including Richard Clarke.

As Dr. Rice noted in her testimony, the President met daily with the Director of the CIA in the Oval Office during which he received up-to-date intelligence. "From January 20 through September 10 (2001), the President received at these daily meetings more than 40 briefing items on Al-Qaeda, and 13 of these were in response to questions he or his top advisors had posed."

To quote Dr. Rice, President Bush took a strong tone on Al-Qaeda. "President Bush understood the threat, and he understood the importance. He made clear to us that he did not want to respond to Al-Qaeda one attack at a time. He told me he was tired of swatting flies. This new strategy was developed over the Spring and Summer of 2001, and was approved by the President's senior national security officials on September 4 (2001). It was the very first major national security policy directive of the Bush Administration - not Russia, not missile defense, not Iraq, but the elimination of Al-Qaeda."

Dr. Rice noted that the Administration ordered the U.S. Government to a high state of alert in the Spring and Summer of 2001 in the wake of increased threats being monitored by the intelligence community. However, as she pointed out, none of the threats were specific enough to forewarn of a time, place, or manner of attack.

During questioning, Dr. Rice listed the lack of communication between the top intelligence agencies as a major obstacle in achieving accurate and timely warning of an impending Al-Qaeda attack. This is the same conclusion reached in late 2002 by the Joint House-Senate committee investigating the 9/11 intelligence failures.

As a member of that joint investigating committee, I find it absurd that Clarke is using the 9/11 tragedy for personal profit. It's time the country moved on to addressing ways to prevent further attacks.

Congressman Terry Everett represents Alabama's 2nd Congressional District. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.