UUbLLL
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
OFFICE
OF
GENERAL
COUNSEL
16OO
DEFENSE
PENTAGONWASHINGTON, DC
203O1-16OO
March
16,
2004
Daniel Marcus, Esq.General CounselNational Commission
on
Terrorist Attacksupon
the
United
States
307
7
th
Street,
SW,
Room
5125
Washington,
DC
20407
Dear
Dan:This letter responds on behalf of the Department of Defense to your letter ofFebruary20,
2004,
concerning After Action Reports.
I
attach
a
letter addressed
to me
from Colonel
David
Hayden, the Staff Judge Advocate for NORAD and United
States
Northern Command, which provides NORAD's response discussing the matters youraise.
The
scope of the request you quote in your letter is extremely broad: "alldocuments
that summarize,
analyze, evaluate
or
discuss NORAD's response
to the
events
of 9/1
1
"
This could encompass a massive amount of material that theCommission clearly does not want, such as articles in various
publications
of theDepartment
of
Defense including newspapers published
at
military
installations aroundtheworld.Wehave therefore, interpreted this request
to
seek documents
that
could
fairly
be
called reportsinmilitary parlance. That meansadocument preparedby amember
of
anorganization intendedfor ahigher levelofcommandorsupervision
descnbing
eventson September
1
1 and including some form of conclusion or recommendation.We have
listed
documents
we
consider responsive
to
this request
on the
index
delivered to you every week with our document deliveries.
I
hope this information resolves
the
issue
for the
Commission
and its
staff.
If you
have
questions, please callme at
703-695-6804.
Stewart
F.
Aly
Associate Deputy General Counsel(Legal Counsel)
Atch:
Asstated
o
Leave a Comment