White House to declassify key intelligence memo

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 10, 2004

White House to declassify key intelligence memo

The White House said Friday it was working to declassify an intelligence document dated Aug. 6, 2001 that warned of possible terror attacks inside the United States.

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The White House said Friday it was working to declassify an intelligence document dated Aug. 6, 2001 that warned of possible terror attacks inside the United States.

"We're working on that right now," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said on NBC's "Today" show, adding that the memo would bereleased after it was reviewed for any sensitive material.

An independent commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks hasasked the White House to declassify the document, which was brought up frequently during National Security Adviser CondoleezzaRice's three hours of public testimony before the commission Thursday.

Rice and commission members had some heated exchange over the memo, the Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB),on whether it offered fresh warnings just more than one month before the Sept. 11 attacks that the al-Qaida network was plotting to strike the United States.

Democratic commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste said the Aug. 6, 2001 memo, titled Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the UnitedStates, suggested that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States.

But Rice insisted that the memo was not a warning because it focused on history, not current threats. The memo contained a "discussion" on whether al Qaeda might use hijacking to try to freea prisoner in the United States, and it said that "the FBI had full field investigations under way," Rice said.

At the end of the hearing, commission chairman Thomas Kean announced that the commission had requested the White House to have the memo declassified, "because we feel it is important that the American people get a chance to see it."

NBC News said, quoting White House sources, that the memo wouldprobably not be released before Monday.

Source: Xinhua

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