  According to various major media reports quoting high level US government officials as well as US government official documents, on the same day when US Attorney General John Ashcroft received a briefing that stated that Al Quaeda was preparing for an imminent attack on the United States Mr Ashcroft apparently refused to discuss the issue of terrorism with the then-acting FBI Director Tom Pickard.
The date: urlLink July 12, 2001 , just under two months before the attacks of 9/11. And if all of that is true, the fact that Mr Ashcroft still has his job belongs towards the top of the list of major mysteries of our times. 
