The second report quoted Pickard as saying he had briefed Ashcroft on terrorist threats in late June and July 2001 but the attorney general was not interested.
"After two such briefings, the attorney general told him he did not want to hear this information anymore," the report quoted Pickard as saying. Pickard himself repeated the charge in his testimony but Ashcroft vehemently denied it.
"Acting Director Pickard and I had more than two meetings. We had regular meetings," he said.
"Secondly I did never speak to him saying that I did not want to hear about terrorism. I care greatly about the safety and security of the American people and was very interested in terrorism, and specifically interrogated him about threats to the American people and domestic threats in particular."
Freeh said FBI counterterrorism operations were severely underfunded and understaffed before the attacks, partly due to a 22-month congressionally imposed hiring freeze in the early 1990s.
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