The commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks feels unanimously that White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice should testify in public, the panel's head said on Sunday.
Rice is refusing to appear before the commission in public and under oath to answer allegations from a former White House counter-terrorism official that the Bush administration neglected the threat from al Qaeda.
But former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean told "Fox News Sunday" that his panel would not try to force her to do so under a court order.
"To get into a court battle over a subpoena we don't think is really appropriate right now nor will it help us," Kean said.
The administration is resting its refusal to let Rice testify in public on a ruling by White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales that to do so would set a precedent that other presidential advisers could be compelled to testify about advice they have given the president.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has challenged Rice to appear publicly, accusing President George W. Bush's White House of stonewalling the commission and of attempting "character assassination" against its own former counter-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke.