Letter to Representative Dennis J. Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Letter to Representative Dennis J. Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker, United States House of Representatives
H232 Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20515
April 28, 2004
Dear Speaker Hastert:
The Administration recently took the correct action to declassify the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) from August 6, 2001, giving the public a fuller accounting of the events leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In that case, there were conflicting claims of the document's content, so declassifying it allowed the public to make its own determination. Since the purpose of the commission investigating 9/11 is to bring a measure of understanding to our country and teach our government lessons from that attack, such measures that bring more clarity are vital.
In the same faith, we ask that you expedite House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss's request and declassify former counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke's entire 2002 testimony before Congress - an action that has also been demanded by Senate Majority Leader Frist. Along with the PDB, an internal Department of Justice memo was quickly declassified by Attorney General John Ashcroft on April 13 "to heal our wounds" and learn "the lessons of history," as he said. For those reasons, declassifying Mr. Clarke's testimony and removing any doubt should be a priority.
Senator Frist, Representative Goss and even the White House have leveled the serious charge that Mr. Clarke perjured himself with inconsistent testimonies under oath. Because of this, declassification of the testimony is essential for the public to get the truth.
In calling for declassification, Senator Frist maintained that, "Mr. Clarke has told entirely different stories under oath" (Knight Ridder News Service, March 27, 2004). Representative Goss said, "He's either lying in his book or he lied to our committee. . . . If he was lying to a congressional committee, he's got a big problem on his hands here" (New York Daily News, March 26, 2004). White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, said that Clarke "has a growing credibility problem" (White House press briefing, March 25, 2004). These are weighty statements with severe consequences, and the only way we can determine the truth and rise above "he-said, she-said" allegations is declassification.
In fact, Richard Clarke himself wants declassification. On March 28, 2004, he said on Meet the Press, "I would welcome it being declassified, but not just a little line here or there. Let's declassify all six hours of my testimony." Since so many leaders in Congress want to declassify it and the person who gave the testimony wants to declassify it, we ask you: why has it not been declassified?
We know that you are as interested in allowing the public to understand the whole story of 9/11 as much as we are and that you will take immediate action to declassify Mr. Clarke's 2002 testimony. We thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
CAROLYN B. MALONEY
MAURICE D. HINCHEY
ANTHONY D. WEINER
JOHN D. DINGELL
JAMES L. OBERSTAR
TOM LANTOS
BARNEY FRANK
JIM MCDERMOTT
GREGORY W. MEEKS
ROBERT WEXLER
SHEILA JACKSON-LEE
SAM FARR
VIC SNYDER
BARBARA LEE
LYNN C. WOOLSEY
JULIA CARSON
BETTY MCCOLLUM
NEIL ABERCROMBIE
SHELLEY BERKLEY
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT
JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY
MICHAEL M. HONDA
RAÚL M. GRIJALVA