The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

the nAtuRe of the eneMy 361
reluctant to hand over to the new office full operational control of the $40
billion annual intelligence budget. Rumsfeld had the president’s ear on
that score, Gorton says, and soon was telling Congress it was prudent to
go slow. 10
Democrats pounced. Kerry gave the report his “unequivocal endorsement,”
declaring, “If there is something that will make America safer, it
should be done now, not tomorrow.” The Wall Street Journal called it a
“rush to czardom,” suggesting the members of the commission make
themselves scarce until after the election. 11
With a runaway best-seller to help make its case, the commission had
no such inclination. The 9/11 Commission Report—567 pages—sold
more than a million copies in its first month on the market. Reviewers
raved. “Distilling an enormous amount of information in plain language,
with unerring pitch,” said Publishers Weekly, “this multi-author document
produces an absolutely compelling narrative. . . . Given what hangs
in the balance, it is not a stretch to compare it to The Federalist Papers . . .”
Time magazine called the report “one of the most riveting, disturbing and
revealing accounts of crime, espionage and the inner workings of government
ever written.” 12
“It’s a remarkable achievement for any committee to produce readable
writing,” Gorton says proudly, let alone one with nearly 100 authors. They
worked in drafts, consulted historians and literature professors; read passages
aloud to make sure the narrative had pace; took pains to avoid
dumbing down the details. The credit for the literary quality of the narrative
largely belongs to Zelikow and Harvard Professor Ernest May, Gorton
says, “but the entire commission went through it paragraph by paragraph
three times or more to make sure we agreed with everything it said.
“Perhaps the most surprising and gratifying reaction was the dramatic
shift in the attitude of 9/11 family member groups. They were critical
from the beginning, first at the makeup of the commission, including my
appointment to it. Their hostility and anxiety continued when several of
the commissioners asked partisan questions in open hearings. They
thought that we would whitewash Bush. They were astounded at the
unanimous result and the thrust of our report. They became our fiercest
defenders and our most effective advocates.”
KeAn And hAMiLton testified at two-dozen congressional hearings
while Gorton and the other commissioners fanned out to lobby lawmakers,
appear on news shows and make speeches.
The sister of a firefighter who died on 9/11 was one of many family