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Report of the 9/11 Commission

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Drifter
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« Reply #1410 on: September 08, 2009, 12:30:15 am »

66. DOS cable, Islamabad 002902,"Summary of May 26, 2000 Meeting Between Pickering and Musharraf," May 29, 2000.

67. DOS cable, Islamabad 79983, "DCI Meets with Chief Executive General Musharraf," June 21, 2000. Musharraf agreed to create a counterterrorism working group to coordinate efforts between Pakistani agencies and the CIA.Tenet noted that he was not asking the Pakistanis to deliver Bin Ladin next Tuesday; the DCI said he was "ambitious, but not crazy."

68. DOS cable, State 185645,"Concern that Pakistan is Stepping up Support to Taliban's Military Campaign in Afghanistan," Sept. 26, 2000.

69. UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1333, Dec. 19, 2000. UNSCR 1333 also called for countries to withdraw their officials and agents from the Taliban-held part of Afghanistan. Sheehan said that the new UN sanctions were aimed at the Taliban's primary supporters: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Michael Sheehan interview (Dec. 16, 2003).

70. Madeleine Albright prepared statement, Mar. 23, 2004, p. 11; Madeleine Albright interview (Jan. 7, 2004).

71. Michael Sheehan interview (Dec. 16, 2003).

72.The CIA appears to have briefed President Clinton on its "Next Steps and New Initiatives" in February 2000, noting the need to hire and train the right officers with the necessary skills and deploy them to the right places, as well as to work with foreign liaison.The CIA noted in its briefing that the President should press foreign leaders to maintain pressure on terrorists. See CIA briefing materials,"Targeting the Terrorists: Next Steps and New Initiatives," Feb. 1, 2000 (for the President); NSC email, Cressey to Berger,"CT Briefing for Clinton," Feb. 8, 2000.

73. For the CTC's perspective, see CIA briefing materials,"Talking Points for the DCI for the Principals Committee meeting on Terrorism:The Millennium Alert-After Action Review," Mar. 9, 2000. Deputy Chief of CTC Ben Bonk noted in the talking points that the CTC had obligated 50 percent of its fiscal year 2000 budget by Jan. 31, 2000, spending about 15 percent of its budget directly on the millennium surge. He stated that without a supplemental, it would be impossible for the CTC to continue at its current pace, let alone increase the operational tempo. On Tenet meeting with Berger, see George Tenet interview (Jan. 28, 2004).

74. Joan Dempsey interview (Nov. 12, 2003); George Tenet interview (Jan. 22, 2004).Tenet called the supplemental appropriation "a lifesaver." See, for example, the request for supplemental appropriations in CIA briefing materials,"Targeting the Terrorists: Next Steps and New Initiatives," Feb. 1, 2000 (for the President).

75. Richard Clarke interview (Feb. 3, 2004).

76. James Pavitt interview (Jan. 8, 2004).

77. Richard Clarke interviews (Dec. 18, 2003; Feb. 3, 2004).

78. CIA memos, summary of weekly Berger/Tenet meeting, Apr. 5, 12, 2000; NSC memo, "April 19, 2000 Agenda for Deputies Committee Meeting on CT:The Millennium Threat FY00 and FY01 Budget Review;" NSC memo, "Summary of Conclusions of April 18, 2000 CSG Meeting," Apr. 26, 2000. On May 2, 2000, Berger was updated on budget issues relating to the CIA and other agencies; there was agreement on the most critical items to be funded, but not on the source of that funding. In CIA's case, it had already reprogrammed over $90 million, but Tenet wanted to use most of this money on non-counterterrorism programs. NSC memo, Kurtz to Berger, "Budget Issues," May 2, 2000. On June 29, 2000, the President authorized raising the CIA's covert action funding ceiling. NSC memo, McCarthy to CSG, "DCI Wants to Raise Funding Ceiling," May 8, 2000; NSC memo, McCarthy to others July 7, 2000 (appendix on authorities). But funding issues in other agencies remained unresolved. Clarke complained that neither Treasury nor Justice would identify offsets. Clarke encouraged OMB to tell both departments that if they would not identify offsets then OMB would. NSC email, Clarke to Rudman and Mitchell, May 9, 2000. On August 1, 2000, Clarke wrote Berger that one of five goals by the end of the Clinton administration was to secure appropriations for cybersecurity and millennium after-action review projects. NSC memo, Clarke to Berger,"Goals and Wildcards,"Aug. 1, 2000.As late as September 2000, Clarke was advising Berger that unfunded counterterrorism requests continued to be his number one priority. NSC note, Clarke to Berger, Sept. 9, 2000.

79. Executive Order 13099 (Aug. 20, 1998); Rick Newcomb interview (Feb. 4, 2004); Robert McBride interview (Nov. 19-20, 2003); NSC memo, Kurtz to Berger, June 28, 2000. OFAC did freeze accounts belonging to Salah Idris, the owner of the al Shifa facility bombed in response to the East Africa embassy bombings. Idris filed suit against his bank and OFAC. OFAC subsequently authorized the unfreezing of those accounts. James Risen, "To Bomb Sudan Plant, or Not: A Year Later, Debates Rankle," New York Times, Oct. 27, 1999, p. A1.The inability to freeze funds is attributed in part to a lack of intelligence on the location of Bin Ladin's money, OFAC's reluctance or inability to rely on what classified information there may have been, and Bin Ladin's transfer of assets into the hands of trusted third parties or out of the formal financial system by 1998. Even if OFAC had received better intelligence from the intelligence community, it would have been powerless to stop the bulk of the problem.Al Qaeda money flows depended on an informal network of hawalas and Islamic institutions moving money from Gulf supporters to Afghanistan. These funds would not therefore have touched the U.S. formal financial system. OFAC's authorities are only against U.S. persons, financial institutions, and businesses. Frank G. and Mary S. briefing (July 15, 2003); Rick Newcomb interview (Feb. 4, 2003).

80. Executive Order 13129;Treasury memo, Newcomb to Johnson, "Blocking of Taliban-Controlled Assets," undated (probably Oct. 18, 1999).

81. DOS cable, State 184471, Sept. 30, 1999; 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.

82. The Financial Action Task Force, a multilateral government organization dedicated to standard setting, focused on money laundering, particularly as it related to crimes such as drug trafficking and large-scale fraud that involved vast amounts of illegally procured money.Although the UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing Terrorism in December 1999, the convention did not enter into force until April 2002.

83. Doug M. interview (Dec. 16, 2003); Frank G. interview (Mar. 2, 2004). See also Mike interview (Dec. 11, 2003), setting forth the goals of the UBL station; none relate specifically to terrorist financing. Another witness recalled that the UBL station made some effort to gather intelligence on al Qaeda financing, but it proved to be too hard a target, the CIA had too few sources and, as a result, little quality intelligence was produced. Ed G. interview (Feb. 3, 2004). Some attributed the problem to the CIA's separation of terrorist-financing analysis from other counterterrorism activities.Within the Directorate of Intelligence, a group was devoted to the analysis of all financial issues, including terrorist financing. Called the Office of Transnational Issues (OTI), Illicit Transaction Groups (ITG), it dealt with an array of issues besides terrorist financing, including drug trafficking, drug money laundering, alien smuggling, sanctions, and corruption. ITG was not part of the CTC, although it rotated a single analyst to CTC. Moreover, OTI analysts were separated from the operational side of terrorist financing at CTC, which planned operations against banks and financial facilitators.William Wechsler interview (Jan. 7, 2004); Frank G. and Mary S. briefing (July 15, 2003).

84. CIA analytic report,"Funding Islamic Extremist Movements:The Role of Islamic Financial Institutions," OTI 97-10035CX, Dec. 1997.

85. Mike interview (Dec. 11, 2003).

86. CIA analytic reports,"Usama Bin Ladin: Some Saudi Financial Ties Probably Intact," OTI IR 99-005CX, Jan. 11, 1999; "How Bin Ladin Commands a Global Terrorist Network," CTC 99-40003, Jan. 27, 1999; "Islamic Terrorists: Using Nongovernmental Organizations Extensively," CTC 99-40007, Apr. 9, 1999.

87. See NSC memo, Kurtz to Berger, June 28, 2000; NSC document,TNT to Berger, Nov. 3, 1998, roadmap for Small Group, undated.The problem continued until 9/11. Intelligence reporting was so limited that one CIA intelligence analyst told us that, unassisted, he could read and digest the universe of intelligence reporting on al Qaeda financial issues in the three years prior to the 9/11 attacks. Frank G. and Mary S. briefing (July 15, 2003).

88. Richard Clarke interview (Feb. 3, 2004); see, e.g., NSC memo, Clarke to CSG,"Concept of Operations for Task Force Test of the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center," Nov. 1, 2000; Treasury memo, Romey to Sloan, "FTAT SCIF," May 17, 2001;Treasury memo, Newcomb to Sloan,"Response to Romey Memo," May 23, 2001. Despite post-9/11 declarations to the contrary, on the eve of 9/11 FTAT had funds appropriated, but no people hired, no security clearances, and no space to work.Treasury memo, Newcomb to Dam,"Establishing the Foreign Asset Tracking Center,"Aug. 3, 2001. One Treasury official described CIA's posture as "benign neglect" toward the Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTATC), and characterized the CIA as believing that financial tracking had limited utility. Treasury memo, Mat Burrows to O'Neill, "Your PC on Counterterrorism on 4 September," Sept. 4, 2001. National Security Advisor Rice told us she and her staff had determined by spring 2001 that terrorist financing proposals were a good option, so Treasury continued to plan to establish an office for 24 financing analysts. Condoleezza Rice meeting (Feb. 7, 2004). In fact, as noted above,Treasury failed to follow through on the establishment of the FTATC until after 9/11.

89.This assessment is based on an extensive review of FBI files and interviews with agents and supervisors at FBI Headquarters and various field offices.

90. Although there was an increased focus on money laundering, several significant legislative and regulatory initiatives designed to close vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system failed to gain traction. Some of these, such as a move to control foreign banks with accounts in the United States, died as a result of banking industry pressure. Others, such as the regulation of money remitters within the United States, were mired in bureaucratic inertia and a general antiregulatory environment. In any event, it is an open question whether such legislative or regulatory initiatives would have significantly harmed al Qaeda, which generally made little use of the U.S. financial system to move or store its money.

91.Treasury report,"The 2001 National Money Laundering Strategy," Sept. 2001.

92. NSC email, Berger's office to executive secretaries,"Millennium Alert After Action Review," Mar. 9, 2000.

93. PDD-62, "Protection Against Unconventional Threats to the Homeland and Americans Overseas," May 22, 1998, pp. 8-9; NSC email, Berger's office to executive secretaries, "Millennium Alert After Action Review," Mar. 9, 2000.
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