9/11 commission head 'not reassured'

WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- Sept. 11 commission Chairman Thomas Kean said Wednesday he has not been reassured by what he has learned about U.S. intelligence gathering capabilities.

"What I've learned has not reassured me, it's frightened me a bit, frankly," Kean said.

Kean said his commission's staff reports on U.S. intelligence have worried him.

He said he was disturbed by reports of a shortage of FBI linguists forcing the bureau to leave thousands of pages of foreign-language documents untranslated.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, appearing before the commission, agreed with that charge, but said documents in terrorism investigations have priority and are translated quickly.

Kean also said the commission's staff report indicates that the FBI lacks analysts and that FBI analysts are often kept from actually performing analysis since they are required to perform menial tasks.

Kean expressed further worries that cooperation between U.S. intelligence agencies is based largely on personal relationships between agents, rather than on strong structures. He said he has seen no national strategy for intelligence gathering.

Mueller said he did not fundamentally disagree with the commission's staff report, but added, "It was a snapshot in time."

He said improvements have been made and are continuing to be made.