Panel assails U.S. spy agencies

Wednesday, July 17, 2002 | 11:17 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- U.S. intelligence agencies didn't adequately use traditional spying networks or high technology to penetrate Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, a House panel said in a report today.

In its review of intelligence failures leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, the House Intelligence subcommittee on Terrorism found a wide range of problems at the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency.

But it didn't recommend disciplinary actions against anyone. The panel's chairman, Saxby Chambliss, said even if the problems had been corrected long ago, he's not sure the attacks could have been stopped.

"Even knowing everything we know today, this was such a closely held, compartmentalized act of devastation that was carried out by the terrorist community, that we don't know of any way it could have been prevented," Chambliss, R-Ga., said at a news conference.

The panel released a summary of a 140-page classified report it presented to the House leadership. Among its findings:

The report was requested by House Speaker Dennis Hastert shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Subcommittee members say they believe it will be used as a building block for a larger inquiry by the House and Senate intelligence committees, which also are investigating the attacks.

Both the CIA and FBI have said they have made changes to address problems that have come to light since the attacks.

But Chambliss has complained that CIA officials have largely ignored a post-Sept. 11 law requiring them to eliminate the 1995 guidelines that make it difficult for field officers to recruit unsavory characters to infiltrate terrorist organizations.

In October the CIA agreed to alter its requirements, allowing after-the-fact notification of authorities after a spy is hired, but Chambliss insists the agency still hasn't eliminated the guidelines, as Congress ordered.

"As of today those guidelines have not been rescinded," Chambliss said Tuesday. "That's one of the continuing parts of the problem and the puzzle at CIA."

CIA officials disputed the finding about recruitment of unsavory characters. The agency said it loosened parts of the 1995 guidelines in October, allowing officers to recruit spies to infiltrate terrorist organizations and simply notify the head of the agency's clandestine services a few days later.

Under the 1995 rules, field officers had to get approval from headquarters -- a process that could take several days or longer -- before recruiting a known lawbreaker or civil rights violator.

U.S. intelligence agents have already begun establishing contacts with "unsavory" characters in efforts to obtain information, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

Under the 1995 rules, "they wanted us to be Boy Scouts," Gibbons said. "But we are not dealing with Boy Scouts. We're not dealing with soccer moms. You've got to interact with some of the most dangerous people in the world."

Gibbons, who serves on the Intelligence Committee, was a member of the nine-member subcommittee investigating pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures. He is also one of several lawmakers leading an effort to win House approval for the creation of a new Homeland Security Department.

Gibbons said the panel cast a critical eye and uncovered "systemic problems" that can only be resolved with cultural changes inside the agencies.

Gibbons rejected critics who said the probe should have been done by an independent panel, saying it was the job of lawmakers to conduct the oversight investigation.

"An outside body could only make recommendations," Gibbons said. "We have the authority to make changes."

The U.S. intelligence community has a dramatic shortage of linguists and agents who speak Arabic and local dialects in hotspots like Afghanistan, Gibbons said. Agencies have already shifted focus to hiring and training more linguists for the places they are needed most, Gibbons said.

The CIA also is trying to hire back a number of retired experts who left the agency frustrated with a lack of focus in Afghanistan and other terrorist breeding grounds. They need better pay, which Congress is likely to approve, Gibbons said.

Sun reporter Benjamin Grove contributed to this story.