| Date: | Friday November 07, @11:24AM |
|---|---|
| Author: | ewing2001 |
| Topic: | News |
| from the AP/Newsday dept. | |
Update: DoD announced support in Press Release
9/11 Commission: Deadline November 15 (11/08)
FAA knew that Flight 77 left its course at 8:55 a.m.,
but NORAD did not get official notice of a hijacking until 9:24 a.m. (AP/Guardian 11/08)
Newsday -November 7, 2003, 6:22 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- A federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks voted Friday to issue a subpoena to the Pentagon for documents related to the activities of U.S. air defenses on the day of the terrorist hijackings.
"In several cases we were assured that all requested records had been produced but we then discovered, through investigation, that these assurances were mistaken and that records of importance to our investigation had not been produced," the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States said in a statement.
The 10-person, bipartisan panel said it raised its concerns with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who pledged to help and "has already taken strong steps to back up this pledge."
govexec.com -November 7
The federal commission investigating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 decided Friday to subpoena the Pentagon's North American Aerospace Defense Command because it failed to provide requested documents in a timely manner, a spokesman for the commission said.
Panel members are specifically trying to obtain copies of the daily Oval Office intelligence report that President Bush received in the weeks before Sept. 11, 2001. Last week the White House offered to make copies of the intelligence briefing available to the commission's chairman, former Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, and its vice chairman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, R-Ind.
The commission decided Friday to subpoena NORAD, but held off on issuing the other subpoenas.
"We remain hopeful that [the issues] can be resolved in a way that satisfies the president's concern for the sensitivities of the documents and the commission's need to have access to material that will help it do its job," Felzenberg said.
The subpoena to NORAD is the second issued by the commission. Last month, the commission subpoenaed the Federal Aviation Administration. Felzenberg said the FAA complied and turned over the requested documents, which the commission is now reviewing.
DoD -November 7, 2003
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States today voted to subpoena documents relating to the North American Air Defense Command and certain Air Force material.
According to Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, who is coordinating the department's cooperation with the commission, "The secretary's guidance is clear. He expects that the department will comply with established schedules for document submissions. If there are any indications that a scheduled document delivery might not be met, the secretary expects that relevant department officials will inform me or him of that fact, and advise as to whatever resources may be needed to meet the schedule."
"The commission has a statutory deadline it must meet," Cambone continued, "and the secretary has directed that the department be responsive to help ensure the commission can meet its deadlines."
"NORAD misled us," said the commission's chairman, Thomas Kean. "There were a bunch of documents very germane to our work withheld by the agency. It is not peripheral material. It goes to the core of what we are supposed to be doing."
The panel gave the Defense Department until Nov. 15 to comply with its subpoena. It said it had received personal assurances from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the commission's concerns will be addressed.
AP/Guardian -Saturday November 8
At a hearing earlier this year, Ben-Veniste dug into the length of time it took the FAA to notify NORAD about American Airlines Flight 77 between the time it deviated from its flight path to the time it crashed into the Pentagon.
The FAA knew that Los Angeles-bound Flight 77 left its course at 8:55 a.m., Ben-Veniste said, but NORAD did not get official notice of a hijacking until 9:24 a.m. A witness at the hearing, retired Maj. Gen. Larry K. Arnold, who was in charge of NORAD on the day of the attacks, said it was ``physically possible'' that fighter jets could have beaten the civilian airliner to the Pentagon had they been activated earlier.
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printed from 9/11 Commission wants to Subpoena NORAD/Pentagon on 2004-06-23 08:27:57