Nightline piece on John O'Neil tonight

[Oilwellian]

I read somewhere recently that Clarke is now an advisor for ABC News. I wonder if he helped produce tonight's show.

(via email)

TONIGHT'S FOCUS: As the 9/11 commission continues its work, one of al Qaeda's leaders says that the attacks were supposed to be much worse. And the story of one FBI agent who led the fight against terrorism, finally left the bureau for a new job at the World Trade Center, only to die in the attacks.

There's a lot going on, especially in Iraq. Last night's news conference by President Bush really focused on only two issues, Iraq and 9/11. Last night we stayed on the issue of Iraq. But the commission investigating the attacks is continuing its hearings today. A lot of attention has been focused on problems within the FBI. Tonight John Donvan will tell the story of John O'Neill. He was the head of counter-terrorism for the FBI. He became very frustrated in his war against al Qaeda. While investigating the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, he encountered a lack of support from the US government and was eventually pushed out of the FBI. Some believe that because of the many connections between the 9/11 and U.S.S. Cole attacks, had he stayed working in Yemen, he could have uncovered the 9/11 plot. Finally, after leaving the bureau, he took his new job. The night of Sept.10 he apparently told friends that he was concerned that something big was about to happen. Mr. O'Neill was killed the next day.

We're also learning more about what al Qaeda intended for that day. One of its leaders who is in U.S. custody has said that originally there were supposed to be two waves of attacks. One on the East Coast, the other on the West. Los Angeles and the Sears Tower in Chicago were two of the targets. But just before 9/11, bin Laden apparently thought that this plan was too complicated and the second wave was scrapped. All of this comes from transcripts of his interrogations, which were leaked to a reporter from the Sunday Times of London. So as the commission looks at what happened that day, Richard Gizbert will report on how it could have been much much worse.

And there is a lot of information, and finger-pointing coming out of those hearings. But clearly the theme seems to be that the FBI and the CIA could have, and should have, done better. Needless to say, a number of the witnesses have pushed back on that. Michel Martin will report on the last two days of the hearings.