Ashcroft explanation of 2001 travel choices at variance with contemporaneous report
Wednesday, April 14th, 2004During the summer of 2001, US Attorney General John Ashcroft was warned not to fly on commercial aircraft. The attorney general fails to shed light on the source or purpose of these warnings in a 911 Commission hearing on Tuesday.
CBS News on July 26, 2001 carried a report by correspondent Jim Stewart stating that, “Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet….”
Nowhere in this story did CBS say that the premise of its inquiry–that “Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft” was denied by the Justice Department.
Now examine the following exchange during Ashcroft’s public appearance before the 911 Commission on Tuesday April 13, 2004:
COMMISIONER BEN-VENISTE: “The problem was in the communication of information which did not reach those who might have made a difference.
“Let me ask you, as my time is expiring, one question, which has been frequently put to members of this commission; probably all of us have heard this one way or another.
“And we are mindful that part of the problem with the Warren commission’s work on the Kennedy assassination was the failure to address certain theories that were extant and questions and much of the work was done behind closed doors. So I would like to provide you with the opportunity to answer one question that has come up repeatedly.
“At some point in the spring or summer of 2001, around the time of this heightened threat alert, you apparently began to use a private chartered jet plane, changing from your use of commercial aircraft on grounds, our staff is informed, of an FBI threat assessment. And, indeed, as you told us, on September 11th itself you were on a chartered jet at the time of the attack.
“Can you supply the details, sir, regarding the threat which caused you to change from commercial to private leased jet”?
ASHCROFT: “Let me indicate to you that I never ceased to use commercial aircraft for my personal travel.
“My wife traveled to Germany and back in August. My wife and I traveled to Washington, D.C., on the 3rd of September before the 17th — before the 11th attack on commercial aircraft.
“I have exclusively traveled on commercial aircraft for my personal travel; continued through the year 2000, through the entirety of the threat period to the nation”.
“The assessment made by the security team and the Department of Justice was made early in the year. It was not related to a terrorism threat as a threat to the nation. It was related to an assessment of the security for the attorney general, given his responsibilities and the job that he undertakes. And it related to the maintenance of arms and other things by individuals who travel with the attorney general. And it was their assessment that we would be best served to use government aircraft.
“These were not private chartered jet aircraft. These were aircraft of the United States government. And it was on such an aircraft that I was on my way to an event in Milwaukee on the morning of September the 11th”.
Should we just accept Ashcroft’s story?
No. It should be pursued by the Commission in a manner far deeper than the pass the attorney general received Tuesday.
First, according to both CBS in July 2001 and Ben-Veniste’s question there was a threat assessment, not a mere security recommendation related to firearms. Janet Reno routinely flew commercial, as did Ashcroft himself, without worry about “maintenance of arms”, until the summer of 2001.
Second, he had a “fishing rod in hand” on a leased jet in July 2001! His statement that, “I have exclusively traveled on commercial aircraft for my personal travel” therefore is either misreporting by CBS, or an intentional obfuscation on Ashcroft’s part.
The latter seems likely, as the rest of this utterance is completely confused as he said his commercial travel “continued through the year 2000, through the entirety of the threat period to the nation”. So there was a “threat period” after all? What does he mean by this? Who was on the “security team” that made this assessment?
CBS had asked in July 2001 “whether Ashcroft was paying for any portion of the trips devoted to personal business”, but “a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to respond”.
Finally, given the inconsistencies suggested above, speculation might suggest that Ashcroft became aware of the Phoenix Memo or other intelligence suggesting an attack against commercial aviation inspired by Osama bin Laden. Dated July 10, 2001, this memo sent by an FBI agent to Bureau offices in Washington and New York reported preparations were underway for “terror activity against civil aviation targets”. It has been portrayed as an “unconnected dot” in the pre-911 period.
If Ashcroft admitted the dot had been connected after all, the whole broken administration story, repeated by President Bush in last night’s press conference in its most simplistic and misleading form–”nobody in our government, at least, and I don’t think the prior government, could envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale”–would vaporize in the public mind. It may anyway, as the catalog of pre-911 failures of government already weighs a ton.
If I were one of the people who lost a loved one on that terrible day, I would be furious with Ashcroft, and the softball treatment he was given by the Commission on this and other issues. Hell, I’m furious anyway…this is no way to seek truth about the biggest security failure in modern US history.