Twenty-eight classified pages from a 2002 joint congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks may be released by June, ending speculation that the pages could show the involvement of officials from Saudi Arabia in the attacks, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Monday.
"We are in the position of trying to coordinate interagency position on the declassification of the 28 pages," Clapper, the nation's top intelligence officials, said during a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor,
reports The Hill. "I think that is certainly a realistic goal from where we stand with that."
Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, one of the authors of the congressional report, confirmed on Sunday that the White House has told him to expect a decision on the matter by June, and he favors releasing the pages.
"I think it's implausible to think that people who couldn't speak English, had never been in the United States before, as a group were not well-educated, could have done that," the former Florida senator told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "So who was the most likely entity to have provided them that support? And I think all the evidence points to Saudi Arabia."
Out of the 19 hijackers that day, 15 were Saudi citizens. While other studies have ruled out that the terrorists were officially supported by the Saudi government, those reports and the congressional report do not rule the possibility that lower-level government figures or Saudi citizens may have financed the extremists.
Meanwhile, the White House and the Saudi kingdom have been fighting pending legislation sought by victims of the 9/11 attacks that would allow them to sue the Saudis or other foreign entities if it is determined they are involved in terrorism attacks that occur on U.S. soil.
The Obama administration says it is concerned that if the legislation is passed, it could lead to lawsuits against U.S. interests from other countries, while Saudi Arabia has
threatened to sell $750 billion in U.S. assets it holds.
Saudi Arabia has for years denied the kingdom was part of the plot, and the 9/11 Commission ruled years ago that there was no evidence that the "Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization."
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