[JURIST] Inaccurate statements [JURIST report] presented to the 9/11 Commission [official website] by senior Pentagon officials regarding the Sept. 11 attacks [JURIST news archive] were not provided intentionally, but rather were the result of poor record-keeping, according to a newly-disclosed report by the US Defense Department Office of the Inspector General [official website]. The report was made in May 2005, but it was not released then because the Department claimed it contained classified information. It was ultimately made public after a request under the Freedom of Information Act [text] submitted by the New York Times.

Pentagon commanders provided testimony to the 9/11 Commission in 2003, including information that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) [official website] was aware that United Airlines Flight 93 [Wikipedia backgrounder] was off-track and that the US military would take the plane down if it reached Washington. But other information revealed later showed the Defense Department was unaware of the flight until it crashed down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Inspector General's Office said Friday that inadequate record-keeping at military air traffic control centers, often by handwritten logs, caused the misstatements. Saturday's New York Times has more.