The US commission responsible for investigating the Sept. 11 attacks will formally shut down and transfer all its records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on Saturday, the commission said in a statement on Friday.

By law, the legislative mandate and funding for the commission would expire 30 days after its final report was presented to the president and the congress.

Although the records of congressional investigations were normally closed to the public for a period of at least 20 years, the commission had decided to make its records publicly available in less than four and a half years, on Jan. 2, 2009, the statement said.

The commission's website, www.9-11commission.gov, would be maintained by NARA through at least December 2005, though no content would be added after Saturday, according to the statement.

The commissioners planned to continue working as a private, independent, bipartisan group to educate the country about the commission's report and monitor the implementation of its recommendations, it said.

The commission, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was set up in late 2002 to examine security-related issues before the attacks and response afterward and to make recommendations on guarding against future attacks.

The 10-member commission released its final report on July 22 after a 20-month investigation, faulting the US government for failing to recognize the danger posed by the al-Qaida network and being ill-prepared to respond to the attacks.

Source: Xinhua