[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  LYNCH-JONES RESOLUTION TO DECLASSIFY THE 28 PAGES OF THE 9/11 JOINT 
                         CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, almost 14 years after the horrific terrorist 
attacks on September 11, 2001, the American public does not yet have 
all of the information available regarding the circumstances 
surrounding those attacks on our country, particularly 28 pages of the 
bipartisan Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before 
and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001, which remain 
classified.
  Since 2013, my colleagues, Congressman Walter Jones of North 
Carolina, Congressman Massie of Kentucky, and I have been working 
together to craft and to garner support for H. Res. 14, which calls on 
the President to release the 28 pages of the 9/11 Joint Congressional 
Inquiry. I sincerely appreciate Congressman Jones' and Congressman 
Massie's willingness to collaborate on this concerted effort on this 
issue.
  Over the past few weeks, calls to declassify the 28 pages have been 
in the spotlight due to recent allegations by convicted terrorist 
Zacarias Moussaoui, who conspired to kill American citizens and who 
will rightly spend the rest of his life in prison. Whatever the 
motivations for Mr. Moussaoui's recent accusation of complicity by 
foreign agents in the 9/11 attacks, his testimony does bring to light 
important questions. Most notably is the fact that, as a nation, we 
have not yet fully accounted for the sources of funding and logistical 
support that enabled al Qaeda to undertake those terrorist attacks.
  We owe it to the families who lost loved ones on that tragic day to 
provide a complete accounting of the events and circumstances leading 
up to the tragedy of 9/11, and it is a grave injustice that 28 pages of 
the bipartisan, bicameral congressional inquiry remain classified 14 
years after September 11. This was not a mere redaction of a few 
specific words or phrases but the wholesale excising and removal of a 
full section, 28 pages in length. It may have been a matter of national 
security to classify these pages back in 2002, but it is now a matter 
of public interest and good governance to release them in 2015.
  I am in firm agreement with former Senator Bob Graham of Florida, who 
oversaw the inquiry, with my colleague Walter Jones of North Carolina, 
with Mr. Massie, and with Members of both parties, who, like myself, 
have read the 28 pages and believe the disclosure will not jeopardize 
sources or methods used in gathering this information. I firmly believe 
that declassifying the findings is appropriate for a number of reasons.
  As Thomas Jefferson said:

       An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper 
     functioning of a republic, and self-government is not 
     possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to 
     enable them to exercise oversight.

  In other words, there can be no accountability without transparency. 
We must advocate for the need to make these pages public in order to 
shine a brighter light on the information contained therein and utilize 
it in framing our foreign policy going forward.
  In addition, I have met with the spouses, children, siblings, parents 
of the 9/11 victims as well as with representatives from the 9/11 
Families United for Justice Against Terrorism. They have provided 
powerful testimony and heartrending submissions regarding how important 
it is to seek the truth and to bring all those to account who were 
responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

                              {time}  1015

  Today, at a time when the world continues to face challenges from 
expanding terrorist organizations such as ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, Boko 
Haram, and al Shabaab, as well as al Qaeda and its affiliates, we must 
be mindful of the urgent need to bring their financiers and supporters 
to justice as well.
  At an even more basic level, our commitment to one another as 
citizens in a society that values freedom and justice demands that we 
hold accountable those who aided and abetted the savage attacks on our 
homeland and murdered thousands of innocent Americans.
  When that fundamental duty to protect American citizens has been 
breached, it is not enough to say that we will ``never forget.'' The 
military and civilian personnel at the Pentagon, the first responders 
and office workers in the New York office towers, the passengers and 
crew of those hijacked planes, and all those families whose hearts 
still ache, we owe it to them.
  So I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to not only take 
the time to review those 28 pages but also consider supporting House 
Resolution 14, as these families and the American people deserve to 
have their questions answered.

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