Thomas Kean, the former republican governor of New Jersey, noted for the first time on October 25, 2003 that the Commission might need to subpoena the White House for Oval Office documents that had not been turned over that are relevant to the investigation.  It has been reported that the withheld docments concern  the detailed daily intelligence reports that were provided to Mr. Bush in the weeks leading up to Sept. 11 such as  the Presidential Daily Briefing. Of course, we all know that the White House confirmed that President Bush received a written intelligence report in August 2001, the month before the attacks, that Al Qaeda might try to hijack American passenger planes. NYT October 25, 2003.

Joe Lieberman, the Senator who co-wrote legislation that created the commission, issued a statement saying that the administration has "resisted this inquiry at every turn." Liebermans statement went on to say, "After claiming they wanted to find the truth about Sept. 11, the Bush administration has resorted to secrecy, stonewalling and foot-dragging." LA Times, October 27, 2003.

Slade Gorton, a former republican Senator from 1982 to 2000, said that he was startled by the "indifference" of some of the Bush Administration's agencies in making material available to the commission. "This lack of cooperation, if it extends anywhere else, is going to make it very difficult" for the commission to finish its work by next May, he said. NYT October 25, 2003.

Max Cleland, the former Democratic senator from Georgia, accused the White House of withholding classified information from the panel for purely political reasons.  Noting that the Commission is planned to expire in  May 2004, Cleland said,   "It's obvious that the White House wants to run out the clock here," he said in an interview in Washington. "It's Halloween, and we're still in negotiations with some assistant White House counsel about getting these documents it's disgusting." NYT October 25, 2003.

Max Cleland also noted that he believed that the White House and President Bush's re-election campaign had reason to fear what the Commission was uncovering in its investigation of intelligence and law enforcement failures before Sept. 11. "As each day goes by, we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it has ever admitted." NYT October 25, 2003.

Charles Hagel , a republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence  on NBC's Meet the Press on October 26, 2003 that, "Americans and our allies across the globe must have confidence in our leadership," Hagel said. "They must trust our processes, and that certainly includes our intelligence communities' results." LA Times, October 27, 2003.