WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The 10-member bipartisan commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks issued a progress report Tuesday, saying that government witnesses have been "encouragingly frank" in interviews and that the willingness of federal agencies to turn over documents promptly has "significantly improved" over the summer.
The tone of the report was a marked contrast to a panel statement released July 8 in which members complained of official foot-dragging and warned that officials being questioned might be intimidated by the presence of "minders" -- escorts from the agencies where they work.
Nonetheless
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"Still got minders, still don't like 'em," former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, the commission chairman, said at a news briefing to release the progress report.
But he quickly added, "Talking to (commission) staff ... as they've done the interviews
Ugg deutschland, the interviewees are encouragingly frank ... They, by and large, have not seemed to be intimidated in anyway in their answers. In fact, it's the opposite."
Since July
ugg boots america, the panel's report said, "executive branch agencies have significantly improved their performance in responding to our document requests." Commission sources had previously told United Press International that the requests cover the most sensitive and highly classified national security material, including records of interrogations of al-Qaida suspects, minutes of National Security Council meetings and Presidential Daily Briefings -- the intelligence community's summary of the main threats to the nation.
But Kean said the panel was still negotiating with the administration about access to the relatively few papers they wanted, "We've not got everything that we feel we need to do our job (yet)," he told reporters, but added, "We have assurances from the White House that if we show that we need a document to do our job
www.botastiendas.com, that document will be made available."
"These negotiations have been carried on in a very congenial environment and both parties are cognizant of their respective obligations," said Deputy Chairman and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton, D-Ind.
botas ugg baratas, and Kean made it clear that if the commission were to be denied access to any documents or individuals, "You (the media) will know about it about it."
But Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband died in the 9/11 attacks, said she could not understand what there was to negotiate.
"If you have full cooperation from the administration, if (the commission staff and members) all have security clearances, what are they negotiating about? You should get the papers, you should get your answers and you should be able to produce a definitive report," she said.
"There's an extraordinary leap of faith required of the families and of the American people at the moment to believe that this report is going to be definitive," she concluded.
Other relatives made similar comments and one group -- the Family Steering Committee -- produced a "report card" criticizing the commission's progress as too slow and not aggressive enough. "Subpoena early and often," it urged.
Commission members said that there had so far been no occasion to use subpoena power and that they were getting the information they needed.
In only two of the more than 200 interviews staff members had conducted had a minder objected to a question, said commission Executive Director Philip Zelikow, "In one case, we asked for the minder to be replaced, and he was." Zelikow said that there were no questions that commission staff had been unable to ask because of the presence of minders.
Kean attributed the improved cooperation over the summer to the public pressure the commission had exerted in its July report. "Perhaps it was (coincidence)
kids ugg," he joked, after being asked what impact his earlier public complaints had had.
He was questioned by reporters about the report of the joint congressional inquiry, parts of which were made public this year after a long and bruising battle between investigators and officials about what would be censored for reasons of national security.
Kean said he and the other commission members were absolutely determined to produce a report "without blacked-out sections." But he acknowledged that some of the evidence the commission saw might have to stay secret.
"We'll come to some conclusions perhaps, based on some classified information which may have to stay classified, maybe in some appendix somewhere that is classified
ugg deutschland günstig, but that's not going to stop us from learning from it (and) drawing conclusions from it, and getting those lessons out," he said.
"We're going to do our damnedest
Ugg boots," to get as much information in the public domain as possible, he concluded.
But Hamilton, who spent many years on the House intelligence committee fighting to get documents declassified, cautioned, "This is a very difficult area."
Both men stressed that they were determined their recommendations would be implemented and that -- if necessary -- all 10 members of the commission would campaign alongside victims' relatives for the reforms they felt necessary to make the United States safer.
The panel is looking into possible intelligence lapses that, if they hadn't happened, could have helped prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings. Four jetliners were commandeered early that day, with two flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. A third was smashed into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania, apparently after passengers tried to retake control of the craft. More than 3
ugg berlin,000 people died in the attacks.Related articles：
