Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com
Tuesday, June 4, 2002

CIA Director George Tenet and FBI Director Robert Mueller are expected to be the first two witnesses. FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, who wrote Congress to criticize the FBI headquarters' handling of her investigation of the alleged "20th hijacker," Zacharias Moussaoui, is also expected to testify.

Requests for a warrant to search and tap Moussaoui's computer were denied while he was attending a Minnesota flight school and while he was under investigation by Rowley for his association with known terrorists.

Rowley alleged that Mueller and senior aides "omitted, downplayed, glossed over, and mischaracterized," crucial facts of the investigation, "in an effort to avoid or minimize personal and/or institutional embarrassment on the part of the FBI."

There is no word yet as to whether or not FBI Special Agent Robert Wright will be subpoenaed to testify before the committee.

Like Rowley, Wright has alleged that bureau supervisors hindered his investigations into terrorist suspects. He says the FBI has forbidden him to share more than 500 pages of documentation of alleged misconduct with Congress.

As CNSNews.com previously reported, Wright spearheaded an investigation code-named "Vulgar Betrayal," which uncovered U.S.-based not-for-profit "charitable" groups operating as recruiting and fundraising centers for Muslim terrorist organizations.

Obstruction

Wright says that FBI management "intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed" his attempts to expand the investigation to arrest other terrorists and seize their assets.

"As a direct result of the incompetence and, at times, intentional obstruction of justice by FBI management to prevent me from bringing the terrorists to justice, Americans have unknowingly been exposed to potential terrorist attacks for years," he charged.

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., says even though the initial hearings will not be open to the public, as much information as possible will be released.

"We are committed to giving the American people a thorough and complete report of what happened on that date, and a set of recommendations as to what reforms will be necessary to reduce the likelihood of such an event occurring in the future," Graham said, announcing the hearings.

"We owe it to the American people, to the innocent victims, and to the families of those who died," he added.

Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, agrees that the hearings should be as open as possible, without jeopardizing national security.

"The way to do this, to follow the path to truth, is to follow the breadcrumbs of fact rather than the breadcrumbs of opinion," he said. "We want to share as much as we can with the public."

Goss has been angered by leaks of classified information that he says have made it harder for the intelligence committees to conduct their investigation.

"I have testimony as recently as [last month] of lost capability to deal with the terrorist threat because of these leaks," he explained. "People are not telling us some things because they don't want to see their name [in the media]. They don't want to get burned.

"We're not getting the kind of cooperation we should be getting from some quarters and it's because of these leaks," Goss added.

The joint hearings are set to begin Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. EDT in the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol.

Copyright CNSNews.com

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