2007年VOA标准英语-Internal Report Faults Ex-CIA Director's Counte

By Gary Thomas
Washington
22 August 2007

The Central Intelligence Agency has released a report sharply critical of the CIA's senior leadership in the years and months leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the document in some respects goes beyond previous probes into the 9/11 attacks.

CIA director George Tenet waits to make his a statement to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during hearing about worldwide threats to national security, 7 Feb 2001

The report by the CIA's Office of Inspector¹ General recommends that ex-CIA director George Tenet and several other top current and former agency officials be held accountable for intelligence missteps on combating the terrorist threat.

The review says there was no single event or, in its words, a "silver bullet" that would have prevented the 9/11 attacks.  But it does say that before 9/11, neither the U.S. government nor the intelligence community had a comprehensive strategy for dealing² with al-Qaida. It says that then-CIA Director Tenet was either unwilling³ or unable to marshal intelligence resources to combat the growing intelligence threat, and failed to develop a comprehensive counterterrorism plan.

Tenet could not be reached for comment.  But he issued a written statement calling many of the report's conclusions "flat wrong" and asserted that there was what he called a "robust⁴" counterterrorism plan in place before 9/11.

But former CIA officer Michael Scheuer, who headed the unit hunting Osama bin⁵ Laden⁶ during Tenet's tenure⁷, describes Tenet as "a good cheerleader, but not a very good leader."

"I think what it shows is that most of the people in the agency knew that Mr. Tenet was not doing enough against bin Laden and al-Qaida, and that they had petitioned him via memorandums and conversations to do a number of things which were in his power to do that he refused to do over the course of a decade," he said.

The CIA released the 19-page executive summary of the longer still-classified report reluctantly.  CIA director Michael Hayden issued a statement saying he was opposed to the release, but a law passed earlier this month by Congress required it.  He added that many of those criticized in the report sharply contest the focus, methodology, and conclusions of the report.

The report covers much of the same ground gone over by other probes of the September 11 attacks, especially the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.  But it differs sharply in one respect. The 9/11 Commission was careful not to place blame on any individuals for intelligence failures, but the CIA's internal report does.

Michael Scheuer says the inspector general's report raises questions about the 9/11 Commission's reluctance⁸ to assign responsibility.

"I think what it does is reveal the utter bankruptcy⁹ of the 9/11 Commission," he said.  "Clearly their inability to find anyone responsible for anything before 9/11 is vastly undercut and is almost made to look like a whitewash¹⁰ by this report. I think the culpability¹¹ at senior levels was so great that they decided¹² that they needed to protect all the politicians and all the senior bureaucrats¹³, and that they decided not to name anyone."

The CIA Inspector General's report says it found no misconduct or breaking of the law.  It does, however, recommend establishment of an internal "accountability board" to examine the performance of senior agency officials in the lead-up to 9/11 and recommend possible disciplinary action.  A similar recommendation made in 2005 was rejected by then-CIA director Porter Goss.  The current director, General Hayden, says he sees no reason to reverse that decision.

1 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

4 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

7 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

8 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

9 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

10 whitewash   

v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰

参考例句：

• They tried hard to whitewash themselves.他们力图粉饰自己。
• What he said was a load of whitewash.他所说的是一大堆粉饰之词。

11 culpability   

n.苛责，有罪

参考例句：

• As if the estrangement between them had come of any culpability of hers. 姐弟俩疏远的责任竟仿佛落到了她的身上！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• The offence, as now defined in English law, covers a wide spectrum of culpability. 英国法律规定，违法包括很多种过失行为。 来自互联网

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句