The US commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is expected to release its final report next Thursday, four days ahead of its deadline of July 26 that coincides with the start of the Democratic National Convention.

Included in the report are many of the conclusions that were made in the commission's 17 staff reports released during its public hearings last year and this year, media reports here quoted government officials who have seen the report as saying on Saturday.

The bulk of the final report, expected to run over 500 pages, will catalog the chain of intelligence and law enforcement failures that allowed 19 terrorists to enter the United States undetected and carry out attacks that killed about 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

The panel will recommend the creation of a cabinet-level post to oversee the nation's intelligence agencies, a position that would take power away from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Council, the Pentagon and other agencies, a New York Times report said.

The creation of the post of a national intelligence director would be the most important of the recommendations in the long-awaited report.

The proposal is likely to face especially fierce opposition from the Pentagon and the CIA, which would both have to cede significant authority over the government's estimated 40 billion US dollars annual intelligence budget and other policy matters.

Most of the nation's intelligence budget is now under the control of the Pentagon, which controls the National Security Agency responsible for intercepting and decoding global communications, the Defense Intelligence Agency, which is the CIA's military counterpart, and the National Reconnaissance Office, which develops and operates spy satellites.

The 10-member bipartisan commission would make other important recommendations, including a proposal for a major reorganization of the way Congress oversees intelligence agencies and for a restructuring of the FBI, which is now responsible for domestic intelligence, the reports said.

The commission, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was set up in late 2002 to examine security-related issues before the attacks and response afterward and to make recommendations on guarding against future attacks.

Source: Xinhua