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Thomas H.
Kean
CHAIR
Lee H.
Hamilton
VICE
CHAIR
Richard
Ben-Veniste
Fred
F.
Fielding
Jamie
S.
Gorelick
Slade
Gorton
Bob Kerrey
John
F.
Lehman
Timothy J.
Roemer
JamesR.
Thompson
Philip
D. Zelikow
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
February
20,2004
Ms. Pat Downs
Office
of the
Under Secretary
of
Defense
for
Intelligence
5000
Defense PentagonWashington,
DC
20301-5000Dear Pat:
As
the
Commission
finalizes its
review
of
DoD's
document production
in
preparation for its upcoming visit to NORAD headquarters, a matter thatremains puzzling
to us is the
absence
of an
after-action report (hereinafter
"AAR")
regarding
NORAD's
response
to the
hijackings
on 9/11. I
understand that this
issue
has
been
the
subject
of
numerous telephone
and
email discussions between
our
respective staffs, dating back
to at
least
lastSeptember.
The
purpose
of
this letter
is
twofold:
first, to
review
the
record
and
reassert the Commission's request for AARs related to NORAD'sresponse on
9/11;
and second, to seek
DoD's
written clarification as to where
we
stand with respecttothis
issue.
On
May 9, 2003, the Commission submitted to DoD Document Request No.
1,
which requested, inter alia, "All DoD after-action reviews relating to the
eventsof
9/11/01.
..."(DoD
Req.
No.
l,Item
10). In response to this request
DoD
produced AARs from a number of DoD services and components,
including
the Air Force, Navy and NMCC. A similar report related
specificallyto
NORAD's performance
on 9/11 was not
forthcoming.Commission
staff
raised the absence of such an AAR in phone calls and
emails in the
months that followed, including
the
attached September
8,
2003email (which was forwarded again to DoD on October 20, 2003). Withrespecttothis issue,theCommission clarifieditsrequestin the
following
manner:
"We are seeking from NORAD ALL documents that could be
fairly
characterized
as an
after-action report. This wouldinclude all documents that summarize, analyze, evaluate ordiscuss
NORAD's
response to the events of
9/11.
It wouldalso include all interviews with NORAD personnel that were
involved
in NORAD's air defense operation on
9/11."
Of
course, as DoD Document Request No. 1 makes clear, the request covers
AARs
related
to
NORAD's performance
on
9/11
even
if
they were producedelsewhere
in
DoD.
301
7
th
Street SW,
Room
5125
Washington,
DC
20407
T
202.331.4060
F
202.296.5545
www.9-llcommission.gov26
Federal
Plaza
Suite
13-100
New
York,
NY
10278
T
212.264.1505
F
212.264.1595
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