For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented.
"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.
"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."
Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.
"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.
To find out who failed and why, the commission has navigated a political landmine, threatening a subpoena to gain access to the president's top-secret daily briefs. Those documents may shed light on one of the most controversial assertions of the Bush administration - that there was never any thought given to the idea that terrorists might fly an airplane into a building.
"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002.
"How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to appoint the commission.
The chairman of a federal commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks said Thursday that mistakes over many years left the United States vulnerable to such an attack, but he resisted pinning blame on either of the last two presidential teams.
"We have no evidence that anybody high in the Clinton administration or the Bush administration did anything wrong,'' chairman Thomas Kean said in an interview with ABC's "Nightline'' taped for airing Thursday night.
Kean said the 10-member National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States has not decided whether to ask former President Clinton or President Bush to testify. He also said that any conclusions about the performance of high-level officials "will be reached when we are finished with our job, not now.''
Kean sought to clarify remarks attributed to him in a CBS News report that aired Wednesday.
Q: Well, I have talked to his office, and they're saying that he was quoted accurately. But he did say, apparently there's no question about it, he did say it was preventable. He did say, when asked specifically, are there people who failed to prevent it who are still in authority, his answer was, yes, and we'll find out who those people are.
MR. McCLELLAN: I haven't seen any further comment from him. But when I looked at his comments, I didn't quite take that same impression. But I would reiterate that the President strongly supports the work of the commission. If there is something that we can learn that can help prevent a terrorist attack like September 11th from happening, we want to know about it. And that is why at the direction of the President, we are working very closely with the commission to help them complete their important work. Both the chairman and co-chairman have publicly applauded the assistance of the White House in helping the commission. So that's where things are. But the commission is continuing to do its work.
Q What impression did you get from what Kean said?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I don't want to speak for Chairman Kean, but I just didn't quite walk away with that same impression that Ken described.
Q Has the commission officially notified the White House of these claims, or are you learning of it just from this --
MR. McCLELLAN: Of which claims?
Q That there were problems and that there are people in place who possibly could have prevented September 11th?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, one, the commission is continuing to do its work. And it's important that they complete their work. And that's why we're working closely with them, to help them complete their important work. I don't want to do anything that would get in the way of them completing their work. I mean, I think I'll let them describe, in terms of where they are in conducting their work and completing their work.
Q In the cooperation that the White House has shown with the commission, have any of your people found any similar evidence to match what Governor Kean has suggested?
MR. McCLELLAN: Which part of what he suggested?
Q That there were problems that could have possibly been prevented.
MR. McCLELLAN: As we have previously said, there is nothing that we have seen that leads us to believe that September 11th could have been prevented. We previously said that. That still stands.
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