CIA report: 'systemic failure pre-9/11'
Updated on 22 August 2007
A declassified CIA report criticised its own former chief George Tenet of failing to follow through on his 1998 commitment to wage war on al-Qaida and for sidelining counterterrorism money in the years preceding the September 11 attacks.
The 2005 report was made public this week on the orders of the United States Congress despite protestations from current agency director, Michael Hayden.
Accused of failing to address a "systemic breakdown" in the way suspected terrorists were being tracked, the report said CIA top brass "did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner".
It recommended that the CIA consider disciplining Tenet.
Tenet for his part described the reports findings as "flat wrong" while his successor Michael Hayden said: "There was never a question of misconduct."
'Tenet bears ultimate responsibility for the fact that no strategic plan was ever created.'2005 CIA report
The report looked at the events following the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. In the aftermath of those attacks - heavily linked to al-Qaida - Tenet "declared war" on the terrorist group saying that "no resource or people" should be spared.
However, the report said that no plan was put in place to match the rhetoric.
"[He] bears ultimate responsibility for the fact that no such strategic plan was ever created."
A difficult relationship with the FBI and the National Security Agency is also cited and linked to problems in tracking terrorists. Two of the September 11 hijackers were put on the watch list in August 2001, over a year after their travel plans had raised suspicions.
Tenet was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W Bush in 2004, the country's highest civilian honour.
