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NATIONAL COMMISSION ON
Public Hearing
COMMISSION MEMBERS
Thomas H. Kean
Chair
Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chair
Richard Ben-Veniste
Max Cleland
Fred F. Fielding
Jamie S. Gorelick
Slade Gorton
John F. Lehman
Timothy J. Roemer
James R. Thompson
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Philip D. Zelikow
3
C O N T E N T S
P R O C E E D I N G S
answers.
11th.
5
destroy.
were these people and how could they have done this
vain.
their enemies.
they endured.
that.
tomorrow.
Commission itself.
again.
created them.
their help.
particular Commission.
this region.
flight.
Commission.
statement.
members of Congress.
another 9/11?
and policymakers.
attack.
victims.
valuable resource.
people?
stability.
Fred Fielding.
Commissioners.
recommend.
it.
our objectivity.
disposal.
World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. Like tens of thousands of
others on September
I.
impaired conclusions.
work.
life.
objectivity.
past?
job.
and openness.
American people.
Commission.
underway forcefully.
victims.
New York.
that day.
that war, New York and America and the world will
New York.
September 11th.
people of America.
States of America.
lead.
power."
nowhere.
safer place and that they are not ignored at the end
of the day.
you.
bargain.
our work.
no accident.
invulnerability.
United States."
other fields.
personally.
intelligence."
Soviet threat.
spending programs.
our homeland.
Americans.
into advance."
invulnerability.
York.
country?
start?
this city.
incidents.
your Commission.
emergency workers.
the attack.
68
government.
questions.
effective.
fatalities.
Manhattan.
technology.
to do it.
issued.
impacted.
counterterrorism efforts.
ridiculous.
with.
to the consequences.
inevitable lawsuits.
attacks.
months thereafter.
day and make sure that this city and other cities
is.
first preventers.
very well.
government.
future.
does with both the FBI and the CIA, and also the state's
together.
more directly.
there are now over a hundred and they are working with
government, as well.
answer questions.
made.
prevention of terrorism?
preventive thing.
your question.
terrorists.
world.
92
in the past.
thing.
together.
on.
together.
has changed.
there.
city stays safe. And it's not just looking for the
place.
government.
information forward.
Commissioner Roemer.
in the future.
have.
large cities.
language.
intelligence agencies.
up.
in that regard.
in, and let our economy and our lives fall apart
our business.
lives.
Secretary Lehman.
conversations.
well.
bills.
further.
it on my finger again.
have a choice.
to play today.
spotlight fades.
Authority.
pale in comparison.
appreciated.
speak.
back in the '70s and from the first time they dug
But I digress.
120
story.
Canine Unit and have been doing that for the last
necessary job.
saw him.
go.
down.
building.
further.
going down.
straight down.
excuse me.
team.
straw.
no need to repeat.
take 'em.
with me forever.
job.
anything to us.
level.
explain it later.
every remain that was found. This map, you can see
Examiner's Office. Fourteen hundred and seveny seven families have been
Colonel Birdwell?
corridor.
my wife.
an eternity.
for me already.
Expedition.
receiving.
combat terrorism.
today.
friends.
and the fact that she was doing her small part to
airplane.
observations.
fault for not doing their job and then some that
decision makers.
we had before.
9/11.
befell them.
right now.
Thank you.
163
(Recess)
11.
little value.
164
people who bombed the Cole, the USS Cole, knew that
September 11th.
national-security procedures.
are telling you squares with what the rank and file
the agencies.
shoes.
that this country has not fully faced and has done
organizational chart?
aviation security?
comprehensive lists.
future generations.
truth.
our country.
accountable?
companion.
9 o'clock a.m.:
call and let you know, I'm sure that you've heard,
hit.
horrendous death.
was wasted.
Force?
were the CIA, the FBI, the INS and the military
missile."
wake-up call.
United States."
182
a shelf.
human lives.
who is accountable?
America.
communicating.
events.
Security Department.
this Commission.
grief. May God bless my son and all those who died
are very much with the men and women who are
capabilities.
New York.
were not just lucky once, they were lucky over and
denied.
incorrect.
waiting to happen.
times.
our airspace?
War Room.
by 7:30 a.m.
also hijacked.
to students read.
basis?
you.
upstairs.
hijackers.
rise above the New York City skyline, not far from
my own home.
attack.
ago.
saw.
cause.
American civilians.
208
aware of that.
in the future.
Senator Cleland.
record.
Senator Gorton?
terrorist attacks.
management.
striking.
happening.
information.
subpoenas.
Chairman.
at the facts and put out the starting point for the
Commission.
in that.
Muslim countries.
and I heard that the watch list only goes one way,
recommendations.
them.
conflicts.
(45-minute recess)
right?
again.
address.
to prevent it.
Ronald Reagan.
attacks.”
intelligence operative.
Somalia.
occupiers."
in the FBI.
every Muslim."
underway.
point.
United States.
years to come.
importance of preemption.
understand that.
to you.
11th.
content.
overseas.
of counterterrorism.
succeed."
attacks."
these attacks.
much.
Rand Corporation.
with terrorism.
our society.
defensive.
intent.
of the attackers.
officers.
jurisdictional lines.
here.
perspective.
context.
capabilities of al Qaeda.
global reach.
future plans.
panel.
home or abroad.
crisis.
flourish.
globally.
terrorism.
263
attack modes.
critical infrastructure.
absolutely critical.
different countries.
lethality.
common-sense basis.
changes his mind and reconsiders and helps to give the Department of
Homeland Security
do this.
resolved.
about.
front-line defense.
weaknesses.
prioritization of intelligence.
people will say, yes, and then you ask what is it,
responsibilities.
reason.
an unnatural act.
stop an enemy?
Hizbollah.
understand it.
been some.
who are standing with one foot in Iran and one foot
case-by-case basis.
groups?
quite separate from how much money you can dry up,
utility.
longer have.
hundreds of thousands.
in western Pakistan?
can do there?
identities.
you.
contingent of fear.
radiological material.
dispersing it.
effect.
biochemical.
consequences.
policy.
people dead."
constituency.
survival.
requirement to escalate.
hell anyway.
terrorism.
thing.
future.
people?
years.
country.
to operate.
years.
ongoing problems.
system.
forget that.
who the enemy is. And when you get to that point,
There are some. And you have got here, with Brian
into this.
presence there.
Qaeda.
314
antiterrorism assistance.
citizens abroad.
it done.
Ranstorp?
us there.
becomes a distraction.
us there.
9/11.
kitchen table.
a future attack.
equipment.
in '93.
you nodding.
enterprise.
country.
stands.
sense of values.
remained democracies.
struggle.
he is.
patience.
questions?
question?
very much.
this.
to alleviate this.
has to be confronted.
Commissioner Ben-Veniste.
getting late.
there.
that record.
opportunities.
how-you-get-there question.
creating a system?
about a system.
April 1, 2003.)