The Commission

In 2002, the most important federal commission in decades was established to examine the events surround the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. In 2004, the 9/11 Commission issued its unanimous report to broad acclaim. Now, in the riveting and groundbreaking investigation of the 9/11 investigators, veteran New York Times journalist Philip Shenon reveals stunning shortcomings in the Commission's work a series of oversights, omissions, and distortions that raise fundamental questions about 9/11 and the governments failure to prevent it. Taking listens behind the scenes, Shenon describes the valiant efforts of the Commission's investigators to uncover the facts surround 9/11, despite being obstructed and even deceived at many turns. His discoveries are revelatory: The executive director of the Commission, Philip Zelikow, maintained a clandestine relationship with Karl rove and took actions that we seen as shielding President Bush and Condoleezza Rice from the panel's scrutiny. Investigative staffers at the Commission believe Zelikow repeatedly sought to minimize the administration's intelligence failures in the months leading up to 9/11, which had the effect of helping to ensure Presidents Bush's re-election in 2004. The Commission is an eye-opening account of how Washington really works: the manipulations of politicians, the secrets of intelligence officers, the battles over information, the pursuit of truth.