Washington, D.C.

9-11 panel cites FAA for not showing records

The independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks has voted to subpoena the Federal Aviation Administration, ordering the agency to hand over documents for the investigation.

The 10-member commission said it learned through interviews that the agency had not turned over tapes, statements, reports and other documents “highly material to our inquiry.”

The FAA, which earlier told the panel it provided everything, provided additional material over the last few days and pledged to cooperate.

But the commission, comprised of five Democrats and five Republicans, voted to issue the subpoena Tuesday night.

The subpoena is the first issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. For months, some relatives of Sept. 11 victims have urged the commission to use its subpoena power to demand important documents.

Virginia

Jury pool quizzed for sniper trial

Lawyers on Wednesday began asking potential jurors whether they would be willing to sentence John Allen Muhammad to death if he is convicted of a fatal shooting during last year’s sniper spree.

Prospective jurors — a pool whittled to 71 on Tuesday, when jury selection began — also will be asked individually about their exposure to pretrial news accounts and whether they felt terrorized by the shootings in metropolitan Washington.

Once court began Wednesday, Circuit Judge LeRoy Millette Jr. summoned Juror 62 for one-on-one questioning. Jurors have been assigned a number for their privacy.

The juror said she could impose capital punishment for Muhammad if she felt it was warranted and had not formed an opinion on Muhammad’s guilt or innocence. The juror also said she could set aside any pretrial publicity about the case because “I expect to hear the truth here.”