Letter: Bush has not stonewalled 9-11 commission

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003 | 8:50 a.m.

I am writing in response to your Oct. 28 editorial, "Stonewalling by Bush." Contrary to the impression conveyed by your editorial, the president has clearly stated a policy of strong support for the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, and the Executive Branch has dedicated tremendous resources to assisting the commission.

Because of the extraordinarily unique nature of the Sept. 11 tragedy, the Executive Branch has provided truly unprecedented and extraordinary access to the commission, including more than 2 million pages of documents, nearly 100 briefings and more than 300 interviews. The commission has had access to many highly classified and extremely sensitive documents that have seldom, if ever, been made available outside the Executive Branch, particularly on this scale.

On more than one occasion, the commission has acknowledged the Executive Branch's cooperation and the extraordinary nature of the information being made available to the commission. And, the Executive Branch has acted quickly to resolve any document production issues that have been brought to our attention.

The Executive Branch will continue to provide the commission with the information it needs, consistent with a responsible concern for sensitive information that will allow us to win the war on terrorism and protect the institution of the presidency. We have discussed special access arrangements for only a small fraction of the most sensitive information, and have consistently proposed new ways to facilitate prompt review of information.

We look forward to continued cooperation with the commission as it completes its work.

ALBERTO R. GONZALES

Editor's note: The writer is the White House counsel.