WASHINGTON- Jamie Gorelick is unfit to serve on September 11th Commission. I join the demands of Congressman James Sensenbrenner, who chairs the Congressional Judiciary Committee on which I serve, that Jamie Gorelick be required to immediately resign from the 9/11 investigation.
Jamie Gorelick's continued participation on the September 11th Commission seriously taints the bi- partisan image of the committee, and raises serious questions about conflicts of interest. In short, Ms. Gorelick has a personal ax to grind on this issue and cannot be trusted to render an honest conclusion.
Gorelick's participation is quite unthinkable since a recently declassified memo she wrote in 1995 (while serving in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration) contained specific instructions for officials to keep counterintelligence 'more clearly separate' from criminal intelligence. The Gorelick memo imposed a "wall" of ignorance on the matter of intelligence between our intelligence and investigative agencies.
Ms. Gorelick did the nation's intelligence agencies a serious disservice in preventing their free and open exchange of vital information. She is guilty of a serious error in judgment, and to allow her to sit on a board probing these matters is worse than unthinkable. If truth be told, her service on the investigative panel borders on scandal.
If Ms. Gorelick wishes to defend her actions, let her do so in sworn testimony as a witness, but not in the backroom deliberations of the 9/11 committee charged with finding the truth about September 11th.
A serious examination of the factors leading up to 9/11 is extremely important, however, that probe has been tarnished by extreme partisanship on the part of Democrat members. The vindictive cross examination by long time Democratic political figure Richard Ben-Veniste ripped much of the facade of bi-partisanship from the image of the committee. Participation by Jamie Gorelick destroys whatever bi-partisan image may have survived it.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, appearing before the panel on Tuesday, released the memo and said that a "wall" between counterintelligence and criminal investigations was a key impediment to terrorism probes before the September 11th attacks. Gorelick's memo laid the groundwork for failure. She should be held fully accountable.
I endorse the statement by Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner in saying: "I believe the commission's work and independence will be fatally damaged by the continued participation of Ms. Gorelick as a commissioner."
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