Declassified CIA report shows errors before 9/11

WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- The CIA's internal watchdog found "systematic problems" in the nation's spy agency that contributed to missing the warning signs of Osama bin Laden's plot to hijack planes on Sept. 11, 2001 and use them as weapons.

The Office of the Inspector General said there was "no comprehensive strategic plan" to thwart bin Laden despite years of warnings and threats from al Qaida. While the nearly 500-page recently declassified report, which is redacted in parts, does not reveal any new information about the terrorist attacks, it underscored multiple intelligence failures.

"Concerning certain issues, the team concluded that the (CIA) and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the report states.

The report found no CIA employee violated laws and errors in gathering intelligence were not a result of misconduct, but specifically criticized George Tenet, CIA director from 1997 to 2004, because he "bears ultimate responsibility for the fact that no such strategic plan was ever created, despite his specific direction that this should be done."

The inspector general report, completed in 2005, was prompted by a joint inquiry from the House and Senate intelligence committees more than a decade ago.

In one section of the report, the inspector general touched on the role of Saudi Arabia and its possible links with al Qaida, saying there was not enough information to confirm if some Saudi government officials helped bin Laden.

"The team encountered no evidence that the Saudi government knowingly and willingly supported al Qaida terrorists," the report stated.