Jump-Starting 9/11 Inquiry

Sometimes it takes an outsider to state the obvious, to make an apt comparison. Rohan Gunaratna, a one-man terrorism think tank and author of “Inside Al Qaeda,” did that job Wednesday in telling the special 9/11 commission that U.S. and other Western leaders of the 1990s allowed Afghanistan to become “a kind of terrorist Disneyland,” offering unrestricted opportunity to train attackers and plan assaults.

As the Bush administration’s Afghan recovery effort stumbles, as Al Qaeda pulls itself together and as U.S. cities seek to provide terrorism protection without going bankrupt, it is more important than ever to know what went wrong before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and the Pentagon and how to prevent new ones. The commission obviously needs full and free access to experts inside as well as outside government.

The commission chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, and the panel’s vice chairman, former U.S. Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), accused the administration Tuesday of hamstringing their work. Kean and Hamilton were understandably reluctant to charge the administration with deliberately impeding their inquiry, but what else could the statement they released have meant in noting the mandatory, intimidating presence of what Kean called the “minders,” or agency colleagues, who are always present at interviews with intelligence officials?

Recall the minders that Saddam Hussein sent with Iraqi scientists who were interviewed by weapons inspectors. No one would liken the United States to Iraq, but it is a mistake to create such obvious echoes.

Other agencies are described as barely cooperating. The CIA is reported to be foot-dragging on requests for internal documents, including the crucial daily memorandums sent to the president. The Defense Department has failed to respond to requests for information about national air defenses. In general, said Kean and Hamilton, “delays are lengthening.”

The administration -- which opposed the creation of the independent commission, then reluctantly endorsed it -- may still succeed in crippling its work. If government agencies can string out the process long enough, the commission won’t be able to meet its congressional deadline of May for producing a substantive report. Congress should extend the deadline by six months. But time alone isn’t enough. “Every lost day complicates our work,” Kean noted.

President Bush should make up for lost time by meeting with the commission members at the White House to listen to their complaints and then send a clear signal that he fully supports their work.