T3 B6 Hearing Books Fdr- Emails and Memos Re Preparation for March Hearing 053

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

February

27, 2004

MEMORANDUM

To:

CommissionersFrom: Mike HurleyTeam Leader, Counterterrorism Policy Team (Team3)

Subj:

Commissioner Preparation

for

March Policy HearingAs

you

know,

the Commission

will hold

its

eighth public

hearing—

Counterterrorism

Policy

—on

March 23-24. The Commission has invited Madeleine Albright, ColinPowell, William Cohen, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Richard Clarke, SamuelBerger, and Condoleezza Rice to appear at this hearing (see agenda attached).This hearing will pose unique challenges, both becauseof therankof thewitnessesand

the

extraordinary sensitivity of the Counterterrorism issues involved. Team 3 looks

forward

to working closely with Commissioners to

craft

questions that can be raised inpublicandaddresskeylinesofinquiry.Wehopeto get anearly startonpreparing Commissionersforwhatweexpectto be a

fascinating

round of hearings that will educate the public on how the USG managed

Counterterrorism

before

9/11 and how it is

fighting terrorism now.

We

think

the

best

foundation

for

Commissioners

is the

series

of

memoranda

for the

record (MFRs) that

we've

drafted. To date, Team 3 has completed

130

interviews, many of which areinterviews

of key

officials—including

principals

anddeputies—fromthe

Clinton

andBush

administrations. The MFRs memorializing these interviews are rich in detail andcontext.Team

3

suggests

the

following sequencing

for

your preparation:

1.

We're

currently compiling a binder of what we call Team

3's

"Greatest Hits"—

the

MFRs that we consider essential reading for Commissioners. This binder will

also

include some primary documents and a

handful

of outstanding

press

articles

on

U.S. Counterterrorism policy.

The

"Greatest

Hits" binder

will

be

available

for

review

at theK

Street

office

on Monday,

March

1. It will be

classified

at the

TS/SCI-level

2.

Next,

we'll

prepare individual binders on each of the

four

areas that the hearing

will

spotlight: diplomacy, military, intelligence, and national policy coordination.

Each

binder will contain

key

MFRs

and

documents

on its

subject.

We

hope that

this

approach will allow

you to

drill down

as

deep

as you

want

on the

topics thatmost interest you.

These

four binders

will

beavailablefor

your review

at KStreet

beginning

on

Monday,

March

8.

They

will

be

classified

at the

TS/SCI-

leveL

3.

OnMarch

15,

you'll

receiveanunclassified briefing book concentratingon theconduct of the hearing itself. We intend to keep this binder slim and focused. It

will

not contain classified material (as you won't be able to take such documentsto

the

hearing room,

or in

fact,

cite

it

during

the

hearing).

The

book will

include

the

four staff

statements

we're

currently drafting, the lines of inquiry we'llrecommend, and articles and public statements of the witnesses that you may wish

to

draw upon

in

your questioning.

Again, these

unclassified

materials

will

besent

to

your

respective

offices

on

March

15.

4. During the week of March

15,

we'll look

forward

to meeting with youindividually tobriefandprepareyou foryour respective rolesinquestioningthewitnesses. Please let Stephanie Kaplan know which panel(s) most interest you,

and

we

will

assign Commissioner leads in the coming week.

5.

Finally, the Commission will gather for a working dinner on Monday, March 22

(the

eve of the hearing). That meeting will be devoted exclusively to preparation

for

the hearing. We will explain some of the background to the

staff

statements:the nature of the investigatory work and why we came to the (interim) judgmentsincluded in the statements.We hope that this sequencing will help you plan your time over the coming weeks andgive you the additional background you'll need for the high-profile hearing you'll beconducting. You may wish to schedule additional time before or

after

March 2Commission meeting to review these materials.Team3looks

forward

toworking with you. Pleaselet meknowif I can be of

further

assistance.

/I

To:

Commissioners

From:

Mike HurleyTeam Leader, Counterterrorism Policy Team(Team

3)

Through: Philip ZelikowChris

Kojm

Subject:

Commissioner Preparation

for

Late March Policy Hearings

Date: February

18,

2004

As

you

know,

the

Commission

has

scheduled

a

round

of

public hearings

on

overallcounterterrorism policy

from

March 23-24.

The

Commission

is

inviting MadeleineAlbright, Colin Powell, William Cohen, Donald

Rumsfeld,

George Tenet, Richard

Clarke,

Samuel Berger,

and

Condoleezza Rice

to

appear

at

these hearings.These hearings will

pose

unique challenges, both because

of the

high rank

of the

witnesses

and the

extraordinary sensitivity

of the

counterterrorism

issues

involved. Team

3

looks

forward

to

working closely with commissioners

to

craft

questions that

can be

raised

in

public

and

address

key

lines

of

inquiry.

We

hope

to get an

early start

on

preparing commissioners

for

what

we

expect

to be a

fascinating

round

of

hearings that will educate

the

public

on how the

USG

managedcounterterrorism

before

9/11

and how it is fighting

terrorism now.

We

think

the

best

foundation

for

commissioners

is the

series

of

memoranda

for the

record (MFR) that

we've

drafted.

To

date, we've completed

130

interviews, many

of

which

are

interviews

of

key

officials—including

both principals

and

deputies—from

the

Clinton

and

Bushadministrations.

The

MFRs memorializing these interviews

are rich in

detail

and

context.Team

3

suggests

the

following

sequencing

for

your

preparation:

1.

We're

compiling

a

binder containing what

we

call Team

3's"Greatest

Hits"—the

MFRs

that

we

consider essential reading

for

commissioners.

The

binder also

includes

a

handful

of

outstanding

press

articles

on

U.S. counterterrorism

policy

and

Team

3's

overall sketch chronology

of the

policy story.

The

"Greatest

Hits"

binder

will be available for

commissioners'

review

at the

KStreet

office

beginning

February

23.

2.

Next, we're preparing individual binders

on

each

of the

four

areas that

the

hearings will spotlight: diplomacy, military

efforts,

intelligence,

and

national

policy

coordination. Each binder will contain

key

MFRs

on its

subject,

as

well

as

an

associated

and

more detailed chronology. (For example,

the

diplomacy binder

will

include

not

only

the

MFRs

for the

interviews

of

Powell, Albright,

Talbott,

and

Armitage, but

also those

of key

subordinates such

as

Sheehan,

Inderfurth,

of 00

Leave a Comment