Actions

Back in April when the officials from the present and previous administrations were testifying before the 9/11 Commission I was nudged into writing the most researched stuff I've ever posted (this post has links to my previous posts in what became a series) in part by JB Howard of For What It's Worth. (JB seems to have taken some time off from blogging.) Our correspondence ended with my promise that I'd tried to figure out what the Millennium After Action memo prepared by the Clinton NSC was all about. I never got around to posting on it and it's kind of been in the back of my head as I felt I owed it to JB. The biggest reason for not following through was that I was never able to really find that much out about it. That's because it's classified, duh. In my scan of the Sandy Berger thing this caught my eye, but I glossed over it in a rush.

The officials said the missing documents were highly classified, and included critical assessments about the Clinton administration's handling of the millennium terror threats as well as identification of America's terror vulnerabilities at airports and seaports.

[..]

The former national security adviser himself had ordered his anti-terror czar Richard Clarke in early 2000 to write the after-action report and has spoken publicly about how the review brought to the forefront the realization that al-Qaida had reached America's shores and required more attention.

Berger testified that during the millennium period, "we thwarted threats and I do believe it was important to bring the principals together on a frequent basis" to consider terror threats more regularly.

The missing documents involve two or three draft versions of the report as it was evolving and being refined by the Clinton administration, officials and lawyers say. The Archives is believed to have copies of some of the missing documents.

Then I checked in with Sissy and she linked to this NewsMax article, which reiterates that Berger took portions of the after action report. Once I read that and it clicked, I'd figure I'd drop the only think I was every really able to find about the Millennium After Action report, which is this Mark Levin piece on NRO. He's writing about Ashcroft's grilling before the Commission,

But Ashcroft pointed to another document that also has potentially explosive revelations about the Clinton administration's security failures. Ashcroft stated, in part:

... [T]he Commission should study carefully the National Security Council plan to disrupt the al Qaeda network in the U.S. that our government failed to implement fully seventeen months before September 11.

The NSC's Millennium After Action Review declares that the United States barely missed major terrorist attacks in 1999 — with luck playing a major role. Among the many vulnerabilities in homeland defenses identified, the Justice Department's surveillance and FISA operations were specifically criticized for their glaring weaknesses. It is clear from the review that actions taken in the Millennium Period should not be the operating model for the U.S. government.

Levin continues with Ashcrofts testimony (go read it all, I'll be here when you get back.) and concludes,

The NSC's Millennium After Action Review — which, based on Attorney General Ashcroft's testimony, must be devastating in its analysis of not only this event but of the Gorelick policy — remains classified. And, most significantly, it's likely the Review's criticisms and warnings were either ignored or rejected by the Clinton Justice Department.

This opens up a whole new shitstorm of controversy. It seems that:

after getting lucky and thwarting the Millennium LAX bomb plot,

the Clinton NSC reviewed government protocols, specifically "the wall" which threw up roadblocks on intelligence sharing within the FBI,

and issued a critical report of said protocols,

but the report was seemingly ignored as changes were never made during the Clinton years,

then 9/11 happens,

the Patriot Act knocks down "the wall" (more or less),

Bush/Ashcroft get the blame for everything up to and including Courtney Love's messed up life;

and now Sandy Berger, Clinton's NSA, gets busted stuffing pages of the classified report into his trousers like free peppermints at the movie theater.

Holy crap!

Comments

[Sissy Willis]

LOL...'Love your Courtney Love note, especially. The thought plickens...? NAW. Mistakes were made, and Berger is sorry. Case closed.