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Washington Office
Congresswoman Maloney
2332 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-3214
202.225.7944 phone
202.225.4709 fax
Manhattan Office
Congresswoman Maloney
1651 3rd Avenue Suite 311
New York, NY 10128-3679
212-860-0606 phone
212-860-0704 fax
Queens Office
Congresswoman Maloney
28-11 Astoria Blvd.
Astoria, NY 11102-1933
718-932-1804 phone
718-932-1805 fax
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Press Release
For Immediate Release
January 14, 2009 |
Contact: Joe Soldevere, (212) 860-0606 |
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Rep. Maloney Helps Open 9/11 Commission Records |
Washington, D.C. – This morning, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) joined with officials from the National Archives in Washington to announce that a new collection of documents from the 9/11 Commission will available for public review at the Archives beginning on January 14th. The records include information on the 9/11 terrorists, past terrorist events, al Qaeda, and related subjects. The records also contain information concerning the emergency responses to the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Maloney has worked since 2004 to give 9/11 family members, researchers,
and the public access to information collected and prepared by the 9/11
Commission. In addition, as the co-founder of the House 9/11
Commission Caucus, Maloney helped author and pass legislation to
implement all of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations for improving
intelligence gathering.
“The 9/11 Commission’s work is an essential part of American history,
and it’s fitting that that future generations will be able to study and
learn from the Commission’s records,” Maloney said. “The Commission
accurately diagnosed the national security failures that led to 9/11
and offered a prescription to help America avoid future attacks. I was
proud to lead the effort in Congress to implement all of the 9/11
Commission’s recommendations. I want to acknowledge the tireless and
heroic efforts of the 9/11 family members who I am so honored to call
my friends, especially Mary and Frank Fetchet, Beverly Eckert, Carol
Ashley, Abraham Scott, Rosemary Dillard, and Carrie Lemack. We worked
long hours together to ensure that the bipartisan 9/11 Commission
Report was taken seriously by Congress and not simply forgotten.”
The records to be opened constitute about 150 cubic feet of the
Commission’s more than 650 cubic feet of documents. The records were
screened to avoid personal privacy and national security concerns, and
interviews with 9/11 responders were excluded pursuant to an agreement
between New York City and the 9/11 Commission. Maloney said today that
she intends to work with the City and the Commission to release as many
of the remaining records as possible.
“I hope that in the future more Commission records will be made
public. I look forward to working with the Archives and the City of
New York to make that happen,” Maloney said.
BACKGROUND
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States,
known as the 9/11 Commission, was an independent, bipartisan commission
created by Congress. The Commission’s mandate was to provide a “full
and complete accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and
recommend how to prevent such attacks in the future.
When the 9/11 Commission closed on August 21, 2004, it transferred
legal custody of its records to the National Archives. Before it
closed, the Commission voted to encourage the release of its records to
the fullest extent possible in January 2009. Because the Commission
was part of the legislative branch, its records are not subject to the
Freedom of Information Act.
The records that will open on January 14th represent 35% of the
Commission’s archived textual records. Review and processing focused
on the portion of the collection that contains unique documents created
by the Commission and those that reveal the most about the scope of the
investigation and the internal workings of the Commission and its
staff. Due to the collection’s volume and the large percentage of
national security classified files, the National Archives staff was
unable to process the entire collection by January 2009. The National
Archives will continue to process the materials.
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