Translated
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Senator Robert Menendez on Thursday unveiled a bill to declassify intelligence documents about the 9/11 attacks, including any role for Saudi Arabia, Saudis or any country.
For 20 years, the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks have sought justice and held accountable those responsible for the attacks, but year after year, the federal government has refused to declassify documents that could shed light on any role for Saudi Arabia, Saudis or any country in the attacks,” Menendez said at a press conference with relatives of the victims of the attacks.
In a few weeks, Americans will stop to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he said, “they will remember the nearly 3,000 Americans who lost their lives in the worst terrorist attack.” Noting that during 2020, former Attorney General William Barr used the “State Secrets” privilege to block access to some of these documents.
He said he has never provided any explanation, but given the Donald Trump administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, “I wonder exactly who they’re trying to protect using the state secrets privilege.”
“These families want answers and want justice and accountability, but without transparency they will be denied, so today I present the 9/11 Transparency Bill with members of both parties in the Senate, as representative Hakim Jeffries will present in the House of Representatives.”
“The bill will require the head of national intelligence, the secretary of justice and the head of the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct a recent review of all documents related to the 9/11 attacks, and properly declassify them, and if the secret agencies do not remove the documents, they will be required to provide a justification to Congress, and then Congress will act accordingly,” he said.
“I don’t deny that sometimes the federal government has legitimate reasons to refuse to disclose certain documents, for example when disclosure at a very early stage may threaten intelligence efforts on the ground, but we have to be realistic here, we’re talking about declassifying documents linked to an attack 20 years ago, not an attack, but an attack that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens,” Menendez said.
“If the U.S. government withholds any documents that may implicate Saudi Arabia, any individual or any country in the 9/11 attacks, the families of the victims and the American people have the right to know. “If the information is strong, we must give the families of the victims access to this information, and anything that helps them in their search for truth, justice and accountability.”