CIA officials won't undergo 9/11 disciplinary review

WASHINGTON — Contrary to recommendations from his own internal watchdog, CIA Director Porter Goss will not order disciplinary reviews for a former director, George Tenet, and other officials criticized for their performance before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Goss said in a statement Wednesday that the report from the CIA's inspector general, John Helgerson, did not suggest "that any one person or group of people could have prevented 9/11."

"After great consideration of this report and its conclusions, I will not convene an accountability board to judge the performances of any individual CIA officers," Goss said.

Half of those named in the report have retired from the CIA. "Those who are still with us are amongst the finest we have," Goss said.

Lawmakers investigating the attacks asked the inspector generals of the CIA and other agencies to review whether any officials should be held personally accountable for failures before the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001.

After a two-year review, Helgerson's report recommended that Goss convene formal panels to investigate specific actions by Tenet and other current and former officials. The panels, known as accountability review boards, could suggest disciplines.

In his previous job as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Goss helped lead the congressional inquiry into the attacks and was among those who requested Helgerson's investigation.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, said he has asked Goss and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte to appear before his committee to discuss the decision on the review boards.

In a statement, Roberts, R-Kan., said he was "concerned to learn of the director's decision to forgo this step in the process."

Some intelligence veterans say that disciplinary reviews would drain energy from the focus on current threats and create significant ill will for Goss as he tries to lead a work force battered by a series of reports about Sept. 11 and the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Current and former officials have also noted there are few options available to punish anyone who has left the CIA, other than letters of reprimand or a ban on future contracts with the agency.