Rumsfeld's faint praise for Tenet
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, damned the outgoing CIA director with the faintest of praise yesterday after suggesting better intelligence might have thwarted the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, damned the outgoing CIA director with the faintest of praise yesterday after suggesting better intelligence might have thwarted the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Without mentioning George Tenet by name, Mr Rumsfeld - as is often his habit - couched his criticism in the form of a question: "Is it a terrible failure we did not have the intelligence to prevent the September 11 attacks?"
Responding to his rhetorical question, Mr Rumsfeld declared: "We did not have a source inside the group of people that had planned and executed those attacks. Had we had a source inside there, we undoubtedly would have been able to stop it. We did not."
He added it would have been a "big order" for US intelligence agencies to penetrate every conceivable terrorist organisation and that was the rationale behind taking a more hawkish approach to disrupting terrorists before they strike.
His comments were made as he took part in a question and answer session aboard the USS Essex, in port at Singapore, ahead of giving a speech to an international security conference. He warned: "We have to be realistic and expect there will be additional successful attacks."
When asked whether he thought there had been enough intelligence information to prevent the September 11 attacks, Mr Rumsfeld replied that the congressionally chartered commission investigating the matter had not finished its work.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments