Gorelick’s refusal to testify attacked

Capitol Hill Republicans launched a two-pronged attack yesterday in response to September 11 commission member Jamie S. Gorelick’s refusal to testify publicly about her role fighting terrorism while she was the No. 2 person in the Clinton Justice Department.

Senate Republicans asked Attorney General John Ashcroft for “records relating to Deputy Attorney General Gorelick’s involvement in the development and promulgation” of the “wall” that prevented law-enforcement and intelligence-gathering agencies from working more closely together in the fight against terrorism.

“It is clear that the relationship between the intelligence and law-enforcement communities in the years before September 11th must be fully examined,” wrote Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas.

In the House, Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, and 74 other Republicans sent a letter to Ms. Gorelick demanding written answers to “help the Congress and the American people understand some aspects of your involvement in counterterrorism issues during your tenure as Deputy Attorney General.”

The five questions — some with subparts — were pointed and laid the blame for any poor communications between intelligence and law-enforcement agencies on Ms. Gorelick.

One question notes that she testified in 1995 that she was in charge of creating “a better relationship between law enforcement and intelligence,” and asks: “What specifically did you do as the point person at the [Department of Justice] to facilitate information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement?”

In another question about supplying law enforcement with more timely information, Mr. Smith and others ask: “Why did you and Attorney General [Janet] Reno fail to establish this ’real-time analytical capability within the FBI?’”

When Mr. Ashcroft testified publicly before the commission, he brought with him a just-declassified 1995 memo written by Ms. Gorelick that set guidelines stricter than required by law separating intelligence services and law-enforcement agencies. Mr. Ashcroft blamed the memo — and by implication Ms. Gorelick — for impeding U.S. counterterrorism efforts that otherwise might have prevented the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Ms. Gorelick has defended herself, saying she was not responsible for the “wall” and that it would have been better had it been removed or lowered before the USA Patriot Act did so after September 11, 2001. In the memo and testimony she gave before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Gorelick defended the “wall.”

The issue has raised concerns among Republicans that Ms. Gorelick can sit on the commission and judge the U.S. counterterrorism policies that she so intricately helped shape. She, with the backing of commission Chairman Thomas H. Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey, has refused to resign.

Republicans last week asked that Ms. Gorelick testify publicly before the commission as many other key figures in the investigation have done. The commission refuses to call her, saying that it would not change the witness list and that no other deputy-level officials had been asked to testify.

It was not clear yesterday whether there was any chance that Mr. Graham and Mr. Cornyn, both of whom serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, would see any Gorelick documents from the attorney general’s office. But their letter seemed to hint at least that documents of interest exist.

“We request that these materials be provided under the same terms and conditions that the Department has provided documents to the commission,” they wrote.