FAS | Intelligence | News | 2002 ||||

November 2002 Intelligence News

• Kissinger to Lead 9/11 Inquiry, by James Gerstenzang, Los Angeles Times, November 28. "His background caused some to question whether the commission's work would remain independent of the administration and whether its findings would be credible."
• Bush Approves Sept. 11 Probe Led by Kissinger, by Adam Entous, Reuters, November 27. "'Kissinger is not distinguished as an impartial judge of government misconduct, to put it mildly. To the contrary, he is an investigatee, not an investigator, and one who has stubbornly resisted the disclosure of official information to members of Congress, courts of law, private researchers, and others,' said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists."
• President Signs 9/11 Commission Bill, remarks at signing ceremony, November 27. "Today, I'm pleased to announce my choice for commission chairman, Dr. Henry Kissinger. Dr. Kissinger is one of our nation's most accomplished and respected public servants."
• President's Statement on the 2003 Intelligence Authorization Act, November 27. "This Act also establishes the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States to examine and report on the facts and causes relating to the September 11th terrorist attacks."
• Experts: Don't dismiss cyberattack warning, by Dan Verton, Computerworld, November 18. "Security experts and two former CIA officials said today that warnings of cyberattacks by al-Qaeda against western economic targets should not be taken lightly."
• FISA Appeal Ruling Welcomed by Attorney General Ashcroft, press briefing, November 18. "The Court of Review's action revolutionizes our ability to investigate terrorists and prosecute terrorist acts."
• Experts: Yemen strike not assassination, by Pamela Hess, United Press International, November 8. "The Hellfire missile strike launched by a CIA-operated drone that killed a top al Qaida militant and five others in a car in Yemen on Sunday may not have violated the U.S. ban on assassinations, but the Bush administration's new rules on America's right to self-defense in the uncertain battlefield of the war on terrorism need to be sharply defined, according to former intelligence officials and experts."
• CIA Dismisses Hanssen Book After Author Blows Cover, by Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, November 8. "Aftergood said the author's contention that the CIA tried to censor the book did not hold up."
• U.S.-Yemen relationship in spotlight, by Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, November 6. "As the U.S. missile attack that killed six al Qaeda terror suspects in Yemen reverberated around the globe Tuesday, there were more questions than answers in the air."
• 'P2OG' allows Pentagon to fight dirty, by David Isenberg, Asia Times, November 5. "It would be the largest expansion into the world of black ops and covert action since the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s."
• Blinken: Craig remark flouts law by Rusty Barker, Idaho Statesman, November 1. "If Sen. Craig has given out information or intimations from a secret briefing, that is a violation of the law, that is a felony," said Democratic Senate candidate Alan Blinken.