9/11 Panel Cites Stonewalling

(CBS/AP)  Short on time and patience, leaders of the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks released a status report Tuesday that singled out government departments, including Defense and Justice, that they said were not cooperating fully.

The commission holds its third public hearing Wednesday, this one to focus on terrorism, al Qaeda and the Muslim world.

Republican Thomas H. Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton, chairman and vice chairman of the 10-member National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, said they took the unusual step because the Bush administration's level of cooperation during the next few weeks will determine whether the panel can write a thorough report by its May 2004 deadline.

"The task in front of us is monumental, and time is slipping by," said Kean, a former governor of New Jersey. "Every day lost complicates our work."

Kean said Mr. Bush and his aides have tried to help, but "it is also clear that the administration underestimated the scale of the commission's work." The commission has requested 26 briefings and made 44 requests for documents, which cover millions of pages, from 16 government agencies.

Kean said Wednesday, however, he wasn't yet ready to accuse the administration of trying to thwart the probe.

"Ask me about this two months later. I may change my mind, but I don't think it's intentional foot-dragging," he said on NBC's "Today" program.

"I think, really, nobody anticipated the breadth of the commission's work," Kean added. "We're looking at seven or eight different areas, everything from border security to money laundering to investigating the airlines."

"It's just a huge task," Kean said, adding that "the White House, by the way, has tried to be helpful, and we appreciate that."

Kean and Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana, said the degree of cooperation has varied by office and agency.

The CIA assembled a team of analysts to review events leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, and their work has been invaluable. But the CIA has not responded as quickly to the commission's requests for internal documents on management and resources.

Records requested from the Justice Department are overdue, and the department has yet to resolve how to help the commission review the case of Sept. 11 conspiracy suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who is awaiting trial.

Problems with the Department of Defense "are becoming particularly serious." The commission has received no responses to requests related to national air defenses among other topics.

Within the Department of Homeland Security, elements of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service "have been slow in providing briefings, although there are recent signs of improvement."

The FBI, State Department and Department of Transportation received generally positive reviews.

Kean said he has been particularly troubled by the Bush administration's insistence on having a Justice Department official present when commission representatives interview federal officials.

"The commission feels unanimous that it's some intimidation to have somebody sitting behind you all the time who works for your agency," he said.

Mark Corallo, a Justice Department spokesman, said having a department representative present at interviews is standard procedure and designed to help, not intimidate, the person being questioned.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Mr. Bush is committed to helping the commission. "We have already provided thousands of pages of documents, as well as numerous individuals for interviews, and we intend to continue to do so," she said.

Kean and Hamilton said they are determined to meet their deadline.

But some victims' advocates who pressed for the commission's creation said the commission started late, has been stonewalled by government agencies and seems destined to produce a document that lacks specific answers about how and why the events of Sept. 11 happened.

"Let's extend this investigation," said Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband Ronald died at the World Trade Center. "Let's do it thoroughly. Let's get all the documents needed. Let's let no branch or agency of government drag its feet and run out the clock."

Breitweiser and two other Sept. 11 widows, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken, drove from New Jersey to attend the news conference.