Intelligence Failures Before the 9/11 Attacks

Re “9/11 Report Cites CIA, FBI Lapses,” July 25: I don’t understand how no one has been fired or demoted at the FBI or CIA. If my inept job skills caused 3,000 Americans to die, you can bet I would be out of a job immediately. But hold a cushy government job and fail miserably, and no one is ever penalized, no matter how inept their actions.

Dave Koepke

West Hills

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Our intelligence agencies are drawing criticism from all sides; they’re not as good as we thought and they’re not doing what we pay them for. They failed to remove an untrue statement from the president’s State of the Union speech, and they let us down in the run-up to 9/11. It must be hard on the rank and file to hear how they coulda, shoulda, oughta, mighta done better.

It is proper to identify blame and correct intelligence shortcomings; intelligence-gathering is not a science. But any intelligence report is a tool for use, along with others, by Congress and the president. Intelligence officials are responsible for assessment; they do not decide what to do.

Marvin Chachere

San Pablo, Calif.

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Prior to 9/11, terrorism was a low priority with the Bush administration. Clinton’s national security advisor Sandy Berger provided the Bush administration with all intelligence pertaining to Al Qaeda. Berger even thought that Al Qaeda would be a major focus of the new administration. Sadly, before 9/11, it wasn’t. The Bush administration was briefed a month before the attacks that several intelligence sources believed that Al Qaeda was planning something big involving hijacked airliners.

What did this president do? Did he immediately order increased security at all major airports, port facilities and nuclear plants and instruct local law enforcement agencies to increase security at popular tourist attractions nationwide? No, he continued his monthlong vacation on his ranch in Crawford, Texas, chopping wood. The Bush administration should shoulder some of the blame for the tragedy of 9/11.

Bill Gamble

North Hollywood

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Funny how those in Congress are always willing to blame everyone but themselves.

It was wrong for Henry Hyde and his cronies to be so obsessed with President Clinton’s sex life during the rise of Al Qaeda that they lost focus on everything important. Congress had more than enough warning signs to launch a meaningful investigation of U.S. intelligence’s ability to uncover terrorism plots before 9/11. After all, the World Trade Center had already been bombed by terrorists once. How much more of a warning sign did Congress need to make this a top priority?

George Brauckman

Los Angeles