Gibbons says don’t place blame for 9-11

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., had a mixed reaction to the announcement this week that a joint panel of lawmakers from the House and Senate intelligence committees will investigate the U.S. intelligence system's handling of terrorism during the last 16 years.

Gibbons, as chairman of the House Intelligence subcommittee on human intelligence -- agents and spies -- will sit on the panel and said it should investigate what the nation needs to do to improve the operations of groups such as the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.

"What is it we need to prevent another Sept. 11?" Gibbons asked.

Part of the panel's investigation will examine U.S. intelligence gathering before Sept. 11.

Gibbons said he favored the plan only as long as the joint panel doesn't focus on finding someone to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been among the lawmakers who have criticized the CIA and director George Tenet.

"We don't need to find scapegoats," Gibbons said.

Gibbons has repeatedly advocated investing in more intelligence field officers abroad. The U.S. intelligence system has come to rely too much on technology in some cases, he said.

Gibbons also said the panel is at risk of being used by its members to further political goals.

The House and Senate intelligence committees will be awkwardly paired in an election year -- this would be the first time the two committees would come together for a joint investigation when different parties control the committees.