July 12, 2001: Ashcroft Reportedly Uninterested in Terrorism

According to acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard, he attempts to brief Attorney General John Ashcroft on the terrorist threat, but Ashcroft is uninterested and says he does not want to hear about it.
'I Don't Want to Hear about Al-Qaeda Anymore' - Pickard opens the briefing by discussing CIA warnings of attacks, which Ashcroft may already have heard the previous week and the day before from the CIA itself (see July 5, 2001 and July 11-17, 2001). Ashcroft cuts him off immediately, saying “I don’t want to hear about that anymore,” and, “There’s nothing I can do about that.” Pickard is extremely surprised, because, although most information points to an attack abroad, he thinks there is a possibility it could be inside the US. He responds, “Mr. Attorney General, I think you should sit down with [CIA Director] George Tenet and hear right from him as to what’s happening.” Ashcroft replies: “I don’t want you to ever talk to me about al-Qaeda, about these threats. I don’t want to hear about al-Qaeda anymore.” Pickard, who is close to retirement and will later testify about the meeting under oath to the 9/11 Commission, is furious. He will later say: “I got up out of my chair, and I got in his face. And he got in my face.” Ruben Garcia, head of the FBI’s Criminal Division tells Pickard after the meeting: “I thought you were going to kill him. You jumped out of the chair so fast, I could see your gun. I thought you were going to use it.”
Denial, Support - Ashcroft, also under oath, will later categorically deny the allegations, saying, “I did never speak to him saying that I didn’t want to hear about terrorism.” However, Garcia and another senior FBI official will corroborate Pickard’s account. Ashcroft’s account will be supported by his top aide, but another official in Ashcroft’s office who could also support Ashcroft’s account says he cannot remember what happened. Pickard briefs Ashcroft on terrorism four more times this summer, but he never mentions al-Qaeda to Ashcroft again before 9/11. [MSNBC, 6/22/2004; Shenon, 2008, pp. 248-249] Pickard will later make an appeal to Ashcroft for more counterterrorism funding; Ashcroft will reject the appeal on September 10, 2001 (see September 10, 2001). [9/11 Commission, 4/13/2004] Pickard will later say: “Before September 11th, I couldn’t get half an hour on terrorism with Ashcroft. He was only interested in three things: guns, drugs, and civil rights.” [Miller, Stone, and Mitchell, 2002, pp. 293]