Probing 9/11: Show Us the Money

By Timothy J. Burger

The panel charged with figuring out why the FBI, the CIA and other federal agencies were unable to stop the Sept. 11 terrorist plot is about to seek a huge budget boost. Sources tell TIME that commission chairman Thomas Kean has concluded that the $3 million allotted in legislation passed late last year is not nearly enough. He is expected to ask Congress for $12 million to $15 million. That's a fivefold increase, but still far less than the $50 million allotted for the probe of last month's space-shuttle catastrophe.

The panel got off to a slow start last year when its first chairman, Henry Kissinger, resigned rather than comply with financial-disclosure and potential-conflict requirements. Now, three months after the commission was signed into law, most of its members still don't have the required security clearances--including Kean, though sources tell TIME his is expected to come through soon.

Kean is contemplating a staff of at least 50 divided into several task forces that will sift through classified documents and interview current and former officials. One reason for the increased budget: the commission wants to hire its own staff and not rely on officials on loan from the very agencies under investigation. "They want people independent of the agency," said one source. "Everybody's got oxen to grind." The commission also has yet to receive a copy of the highly classified 800-plus-page report from last year's joint House-Senate inquiry on 9/11. Meanwhile, Congress is still wrangling with intelligence and law-enforcement agencies over how much of its report can be made public. --By Timothy J. Burger