Unapologetic FBI, CIA officials defend pre-Sept. 11 counterterrorism efforts

WASHINGTON (AP) _ They came to Capitol Hill following reports with how their agencies kept missing clues and warning signs ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks. <br><br>But CIA Director Cofer Black and Dale Watson,

Friday, September 27th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ They came to Capitol Hill following reports with how their agencies kept missing clues and warning signs ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But CIA Director Cofer Black and Dale Watson, who oversaw counterterrorism efforts of the CIA and FBI, respectively, offered no apologies.

They said their agencies did the best they could with inadequate staffing, tight budgets and legal restrictions.

``Our people fought with what was provided them,'' Black told the House and Senate intelligence committees Thursday.

The committees are conducting an inquiry into the attacks.

The difficulties of stopping the attacks were described in written testimony by FBI Director Robert Mueller, who said there's no evidence anyone outside the 19 hijackers knew of the plot.

His testimony was offered in closed session in June and released Thursday.

Mueller offered the caveat that he wasn't discussing the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the suspicious student pilot who faces charges of conspiring in the attacks.

``Discipline never broke down. They gave no hint to those around them what they were about. They came lawfully. They lived lawfully. They trained lawfully. They boarded the aircraft lawfully,'' he said.

One hijacker, Nawaf al-Hazmi, even reported an attempted street robbery to police in Fairfax, Va., on May 1, 2001, but later declined to press charges, Mueller said.

The U.S. government placed Al-Hazmi, who had suspected terrorist connections, onto a watchlist to deny him access to the country on Aug. 24, 2001. Three days later, Al-Hazmi used a debit card in his own name to buy tickets for the flight that crashed into the Pentagon, Mueller said.

In reports over the last two weeks, Eleanor Hill, the inquiry staff director, outlined many missed opportunities which, if connected, might have caused the Sept. 11 plot to unravel.

They include a rise in intelligence reports about a possible attack, a memo by a Phoenix FBI agent warning that al-Qaida may be sending terrorists to U.S. flight schools, the arrest of Moussaoui in Minnesota, and the realization that two men linked to al-Qaida in January 2000 may be in the country. They turned out to be among the hijackers.

The official said these clues were among thousands others offering a variety of scenarios for possible attacks at home and abroad.

Watson, retiring from his post as chief of the counterterrorism division official, compared it to a maze.

``If you know where the end point of a maze is, it's certainly easier to work your way back to the starting point,'' he said.

He said counterterrorism will never be perfect.

``We're like a soccer goalkeeper,'' he said. ``We can block 99 shots and no one wants to talk about any of those and the only thing anyone wants to talk about is the one that gets through.''

In his testimony, Black stressed CIA successes in fighting terrorism. He said intelligence officials foiled a 1998 attack on the U.S. embassy in Albania, a millennium plot in Jordan and uncovered threats to U.S. embassies in Yemen and France last year.

Black said they took him to the hearing early, noting he had rejected an offer to appear anonymously behind the screen.

``When I speak, I think the American people need to look into my face, and I want to look the American people in the eye,'' he said.

Lawmakers were largely differential to the officials, praising the dedication of intelligence personnel. Some said that Congress shares any blame for the attacks by not providing enough resources or adequate laws.