Thomas H.

Kean February 13,2004

CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton The Honorable Alberto R. Gonzales

VICE CHAIR
Counsel to the President
Richard Ben-Veniste The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Fred F. Fielding

Jamie S. Gorelick
Dear Judge Gonzales:
Slade Gorton
We appreciate your decision to approve the transmittal of the report of the
Bob Kerrey
Commission's PDB Review Team to Commissioners and designated staff. We
John F. Lehman want to respond, however, to several points in your February 10, 2004 letter.
Timothy J. Roemer
Contrary to the suggestion in your letter, the Review Team did not request access
James R. Thompson beyond the scope of our exchange of letters, including our letter to you dated
November 17, 2003. We believe that both sides have acted in accord with our
agreement. The Review Team conducted its negotiations with you and your staff
Philip D. Zelikow
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR in good faith, consistent with our agreement.

We share your concern about disclosure of sensitive negotiations between the

Commission and your office and details about the PDB review process in the
Newsweek article. We believe, however, that the record of the Commission
properly handling classified information is strong. The Commissioners and staff
have handled hundreds of thousands of pages of highly classified documents
without incident.

We have not publicly disclosed, nor will we publicly disclose, the contents of any
particular PDB unless the Administration clears such release (as it did, for
example, when the National Security Adviser made such public disclosure about
the August 6, 2001 PDB in her May 2002 press conference). We will discuss
with you any plans to describe the contents of any PDB in our public report.

As you know, Commissioners have also participated in dozens of interviews and

meetings with current and former Administration officials, during which a great
deal of highly sensitive classified information has been discussed. None of that
information has been publicly disclosed. We believe that the overall record
shows that Commissioners handle classified information properly.

301 7* Street SW, Room 5125 26 Federal Plaza

Washington, DC 20407 Suite 13-100
T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545 New York, NY 10278
www.9-llcommission.gov T 212.264-1505 F 212.264-1595
The Honorable Alberto R. Gonzales
February 13,2004
Page 2

We look forward to working with you so that the Commission can complete its
important work.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas H. Kean Lee H. Hamilton

Chair Vice Chair