Update: GlobalFreePress in Washington to report from Round 6. Arrived from Berlin: Nic Levis, (911Truth). Also covering the commission: John Judge and Kyle

After Cleland: Replacement favourites among 9/11 Activists:
Eleanor Hill, Kristen Breitwieser, Mindy Kleinberg, Lori Van Auken

Ex-Senator Will Soon Leave 9/11 Panel

NY Times -December 5, 2003

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 — Max Cleland, a former senator from Georgia and one of five Democrats on the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is expected to resign within weeks, creating a vacancy with only six months left in the inquiry, commission officials said today.

Mr. Cleland's intention to resign from the 10-member commission has been known since last summer, when Senate Democrats announced that they had recommended him for a Democratic slot on the board of the Export-Import Bank. But the timing of his departure became clear only last week, when the White House formally sent the nomination to the Senate.

His imminent departure from the panel has created concern among victims' family groups, because Mr. Cleland has been one of the commission's most outspoken members and has joined with advocates for the families in their criticism of the Bush administration.

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The time to find a replacement is limited because the commission is required by law to complete its work in May.

Mr. Cleland has publicly accused the White House of trying to undermine the work of the commission and of "Nixonian" efforts to conceal important evidence about the government's law enforcement and intelligence failures in the weeks before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

In a statement this week, the Family Steering Committee, an umbrella group of victims' family organizations, said Mr. Cleland needed to be replaced by someone who is "familiar with the issues at hand and is thoroughly committed to following all of the facts wherever they may lead," adding that "these criteria are imperative and mandatory."

Under the terms of the law creating the commission, Mr. Cleland's successor will be chosen by Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader, whose office said on Thursday that it would move quickly to replace Mr. Cleland.

A hearing before the Senate banking committee on Mr. Cleland's nomination to the Export-Import Bank is scheduled for Tuesday, and a Senate vote is expected before mid-January.

Advocates for victims' families have recommended several potential replacements for Mr. Cleland, notably Eleanor Hill, a former Democratic Senate staff member and Pentagon inspector general who led the staff of last year's Congressional investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks....

Ex-Government Officials Recommend Intelligence Overhaul

NY Times -December 9, 2003

"...Two members of this private group testified before the independent commission on the 9/11 attacks to urge an overhaul of domestic intelligence.

John MacGaffin, a former senior C.I.A. official, and John Hamre, a deputy defense secretary in the Clinton administration, recommended that a new domestic intelligence service be created within the F.B.I., but that it be managed by the director of central intelligence.

Their proposal falls short of calling for a new domestic spy agency like Britain's MI-5. That is a result of sharp divisions within the group over whether the F.B.I. should be given another chance to prove that it can handle domestic intelligence.

"Our group was divided on the question of whether or not we felt the F.B.I. could make this transition," Mr. Hamre told the commission.

The group is made up of former officials from intelligence and law enforcement, and consists of Robert Bryant, former deputy director of the F.B.I.; Mr. MacGaffin, former associate deputy director for operations at the C.I.A.; Paul Redmond, former chief of counterintelligence at the C.I.A.; Jeffrey Smith, former general counsel of the C.I.A.; Howard Shapiro, former general counsel of the F.B.I.; Jack Lawn, a former senior F.B.I. official; and Mr. Hamre.

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