US Attorney General John Ashcroft told the September 11th commission today the Clinton administration bore most of the blame for the attacks because it allowed the nation's defenses to wither for eight years.
Facing charges he blocked counterterrorism funds in 2001 at a dramatic day of testimony on the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Mr Ashcroft found himself at the center of a storm over his actions in the months before they took place.
In two staff reports, the panel investigating the hijacked airliner assaults on New York and Washington also leveled stinging criticism at the Justice Department and FBI for failing to meet the growing threat from al Qaeda.
The commission cited a May 10th Justice Department document setting priorities for 2001. The top priorities cited were reducing gun violence and combating drug trafficking. There was no mention of counterterrorism. When Mr Dale Watson, the head of the counterterrorism division, saw the document, he "almost fell out of his chair," the commission report said.
Mr Ashcroft testified that he had told the Senate the previous day that his number one priority was to protect the American people against terrorism. He said the May 10 memorandum was based on goals developed by the previous administration.
"We did not know that an attack was coming because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies," Mr Ashcroft said.
"Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions and starved for basic information and technology." Earlier, Mr Thomas Pickard, who was acting FBI director in the summer of 2001, said Ashcroft had blocked the funds he sought.