After four and a half years, we have come
to expect the Bush administration to refuse to hold anyone of stature
accountable for errors, misdeeds or even potential violations of the law. The
bungling of the war in Iraq and the abuse of prisoners at military camps both
come to mind. But the inspector general's report on the
failures of the Central Intelligence Agency before the 9/11 attacks
elevates evasion of responsibility to a new level.
It
took three years for the C.I.A. to produce the report - an inexcusably long
delay, which rather conveniently skirted President Bush's re-election campaign.
Now the report has been sent to Congress only in a classified version, so the
public, including the 9/11 victims' families, is not allowed to see it.
Scott Shane and James Risen reported in The Times
that the document criticized more than a dozen current and former agency
officials, including George Tenet, the former director, but not by name, only
by title. And as for actually holding someone accountable, the report says
merely that the C.I.A. director, Porter Goss, should convene yet another
committee to decide if any action should be taken.
We're
not going to hold our breath. In the years before the attacks, Mr. Goss was
head of the House intelligence committee, which was not exactly pounding the
table for reforms at the C.I.A. even though 9/11 was hardly its first slip-up.
We already knew that Mr. Tenet deserved a large measure of blame, but he
retired without accounting for his actions - and Mr. Bush gave him the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Paul
Gimigliano, a spokesman for the C.I.A., pointed out that the agency had
instituted many reforms since 9/11. But he could not say whether they addressed
the criticism of the inspector general because, of course, the report is
classified. Which is exactly the point. The public needs to see a version of
the report to know what went wrong and whether the right changes have been
made.
Jane
Harman, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, has indicated
that there should be a public version, but it will take a formal request from a
member of Congress to begin the process. The sooner it starts, the better,
since the administration is certain to drag its heels.