The House and Senate intelligence committees will conduct one joint inquiry into why the U.S. government did not detect the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in advance, committee leaders said Tuesday.
The inquiry also will examine the government’s overall response to terrorism.
Hearings are expected to begin in mid-April and end in July.
Some will be closed to protect classified information. Both committees, which deal regularly with U.S. intelligence agencies, already conduct much of their business in private.
” What we’re interested in is finding out why we’ve had so many strategic failures,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “Is it lack of funding? Is it a lack of emphasis? Is it a lack of training? Is it an aversion to risk?”
The Bush administration and the Republican and Democratic leaders of the two panels–Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Shelby, and Reps. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)–have signed off on the general format of the inquiry.
