Sen. Bob Graham has told the Florida Bulldog that the Obama Administration has structured a four-step process around the demands to declassify the 28 pages, that stinks of more cover-up. In a May 18 interview with Dan Christensen, former Senator Graham recounted the May 17 meeting he had, along with Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), with Director of National Intelligence Gen. James Clapper. While Clapper came across as “sympathetic” to the demands to declassify the chapter from the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11, he explained that President Obama has organized a four-step process for deciding on whether or not to release the pages.
After Clapper submits his own recommendations to the President, the matter will be further referred to the Interagency Security Clearance Appeals Panel (ISCAP), which has representatives from the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the State Department and other intelligence agencies, which will review and make their own recommendations. President Obama will then make a decision—and refer the issue back to the Congress for final decision.
If this sounds like a stall and cover-up, it is. While Senator Graham was not about to denounce the process, he expressed alarm about the added steps:
Christensen reported:
“Graham, who co-chaired Congress’s Joint Inquiry into 9/11 in 2002, said ‘the idea of adding Congress to the declassification mix is new. I’ve talked with numerous people in the White House and they’ve never suggested that anyone other than the president would make the decision to release. I don’t know where Clapper got this idea, and I hope it’s not just another stalling tactic.’
“Graham said it is unnecessary to involve Congress now. ‘This was a document the Congress was prepared to make public 14 years ago, but the Executive Branch intervened and said there were unstated reasons as to why these pages could not be released,’ he said.
“‘Such a move would just add another unexpected step to the process with a body which has a reputation of being slow to make decisions. Look what’s happening today about the Zika epidemic. Congress can’t decide whether to appropriate money to prevent it.'”
Washington sources have added that, following President Obama’s meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Saudi Arabia last month, the U.S. is moving ahead with joint military programs—and is relying on the Saudis to make huge new purchases of U.S. weapons. There is also growing pressure, both in the U.S. and in Britain, to cut off arms sales to the Saudis over their persistent war crimes and violations of the Geneva Conventions in their war in Yemen, which both the Obama and Cameron governments are aiding.