Biting his tongue
Perhaps you've heard, it's the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
And while looking back, some are asking: What did we learn?
Well, apparently Sen. Orrin Hatch learned one important lesson -- don't talk about intelligence.
Hours after the planes hit on Sept. 11, I was working at The Associated Press and helped get Hatch on the phone with our assistant bureau chief at the time, who got a tip that Hatch had some juicy info on who was behind the plot.
Hatch told The AP that the intelligence community had intercepted phone calls immediately after the attacks that some targets had been hit. He repeated the same information later in television interviews.
Then came the backlash. Hatch was scolded for allegedly revealing that intelligence officers were listening to suspects' phone calls, potentially tipping off al-Qaida operatives that the government was on to them.
At the time House Speaker Dennis Hastert told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that he didn't know of any upcoming military strikes after 9/11 but "If Orrin Hatch knew about any military strikes coming, then we'd all know about them."
Ouch.
Hatch's spokesman insisted he had asked intelligence officials what he could tell the media and had been given a green light to disclose the information.
Today, Hatch refuses to discuss anything related to intelligence. When I asked him Friday about a just-released intelligence committee report on Iraqi weapons intelligence, Hatch said that, of course, he never talks about such stuff.
Lesson learned.
-- Robert Gehrke
And while looking back, some are asking: What did we learn?
Well, apparently Sen. Orrin Hatch learned one important lesson -- don't talk about intelligence.
Hours after the planes hit on Sept. 11, I was working at The Associated Press and helped get Hatch on the phone with our assistant bureau chief at the time, who got a tip that Hatch had some juicy info on who was behind the plot.
Hatch told The AP that the intelligence community had intercepted phone calls immediately after the attacks that some targets had been hit. He repeated the same information later in television interviews.
Then came the backlash. Hatch was scolded for allegedly revealing that intelligence officers were listening to suspects' phone calls, potentially tipping off al-Qaida operatives that the government was on to them.
At the time House Speaker Dennis Hastert told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that he didn't know of any upcoming military strikes after 9/11 but "If Orrin Hatch knew about any military strikes coming, then we'd all know about them."
Ouch.
Hatch's spokesman insisted he had asked intelligence officials what he could tell the media and had been given a green light to disclose the information.
Today, Hatch refuses to discuss anything related to intelligence. When I asked him Friday about a just-released intelligence committee report on Iraqi weapons intelligence, Hatch said that, of course, he never talks about such stuff.
Lesson learned.
-- Robert Gehrke
7:33 PM
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