June

 24,2004

Honorable Thomas H.

 Kean,

 Chair

^/Honorable Lee H.

 Hamilton, Vice ChairThe National Commission on Terrorist Attacks

301

 7

th

 Street,

 NWWashington, DC 20407

Governor

 Kean

 and Mr.

 Hamilton:The following

 sets

 forth

 my recollection of some of the events of the summer of

2001

 relative

 to my

 meetings with Attorney General John

 Ashcroft.

 Both your staff

 and

the

 time

 for my

 testimony

 on

 April

 13,2004,

 did not

 fully

 explore

 these

 events.

On

 June

 22,2001^1

 was the

 Deputy

 Director

 of the FBI and since

 Louis

 J.

 Freeh

had

 tendered

 his resignation,

 I was the

 de

 facto Acting Director.

 I was

 summoned

 to the

Office

 of the

 Attorney General (AG) John

 Ashcroft.

 When

 I

 arrived

 at his

 office

 I was

met

 by him, the

 Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Larry Thompson

 and the

 AG s Chief

 of

•• •- ••

 -;... ,•

Staff

 David Ayres.

 I had not

 been

 told the

 subject

 of the

 meeting.

 The AG

 told

 me hewas

 appointing

 me the

 Acting Director until

 a new

 director

 was

 sworn

 in by

 him.

 I

 told

him

 I was

 honored

 but if he

 wanted

 to

 select someone else that

 I

 would continue

 to

 serve

at his pleasure.

 He

;

 said that

 I was his

 choice.

 I

 then told

 him

 that

 I

 planned

 to

 retire

 from

the

 FBI by

;

the end

 J0f

 the

 year

at

 the

 latest

 but

 I

 would

 assist

 the new

 director

 in his or her

transition

 arid

 then

 retire.

 /This

 woujld

 afford

 the new

 director

 the

 opportunity

 to

 selecttheir

 own

 candidate

 to;

 be

 [deputy

 director.

 T^e

 AG

 told

 me I

 did

 not

 have

 to

 retire

 but I

told him

 after

 nearly 27 years my

 wife

 and I had discussed it and it was time for me to

 

move

 on. The AG then told me he would like to meet with me on approximately aweekly basis if our schedules permitted to be updated on FBI matters. He also reminded

me

 that neither I nor any FBI personnel were to go to the White House or Capitol Hillwithout

 first

 notifying

 the

 Department

 and

 that

 no

 press releases were

 to be filed

 without

notifying

 and

 coordinating with

 the DOJ

 Press

 Office

 first.

On Thursday, June 28, at 4pm, we had the first of our meetings that summer. I

had

 prepared a

 list

 of topics, particularly cases that I wanted to discuss with the AG. Inattendance

 at

 that

 first

 meeting were

 myself,

 the AG,

 DAG,

 the

 AG's

 Chief

 of

 Staff,

 and I

invited Ruben Garcia, the FBI's Assistant Director for Criminal Investigations, to the

meeting.

 Garcia was next in the chain of command at the FBI. I started the meeting witha discussion of extremely sensitive counterintelligence and counterterrorism cases andprojects and asked if all were cleared for them. Ayres was not and

 left

 the room. One ofthe matters

 I

 discussed

 was the

 increase

 in

 chatter

by the

 followers

 of

 Osama

 bin

Laden.

 I told the AG that this increase in

 chatter

may portend an attack againstAmerican facilities

 or

 interests

 and

 that

 the

 conjecture

 was

 that

 it

 would occur

 in

 SouthEast Asia

 or the

 Middle East,

 but

 that

 was

 only conjecture

 and

 nothing could

 be

 ruled out.

I

 gave

 the AG a

 short

 five

 minutes) brief

 on

 al

 Qaeda

 and

 their attacks

 on the

 African

embassies in 1998 and the

 USS

 Cole

 hi

 2000.1 also discussed the level of sophistication

and

 planning that

 this

 terrorist group

 possesses

 as

 well

 as

 their presence

 in the

 U.S. based

upon

 the

 full

 investigations

 the FBI had at that tune. The entire meeting

 lasted

 for

approximately

 an

 hour

 and the AG

 asked

 few

 questions.

 

The

 Deputy AG called me prior to the next meeting and asked that I

 forward

 him

my

 proposed agenda for

 future

 meetings at least 24 hours in advance. I complied with

his

 request.

On

 July

 12,

 2001,

 at

 approximately

 1

 l:30am,

 we had our

 second meeting with

 the

same individuals

 as at the

 previous meeting. Once again

 I

 started with

counterintelligence

 and counterterrorism matters. David Ayres again

 left

 this

 part of themeeting.

 The

 fourth

 item

 I

 discussed

 was the

 continuing high level

 of

 chatter

by

 al

Qaeda members.

 The AG

 told

 me I

 don't

 want

 to

 hear about

 it

 anymore,

 there's

 nothing

I can do

 about it.

For a few

 seconds,

 I did not

 know what

 to

 say, then

 I

 replied that

 he

should meet with

 the

 Director

 of the CIA to get a

 fuller

 briefing

 on the

 matter.

 I had not

told

 the AG

 about

 the

 meeting

 in Malaysia

 since

 I was

 told

 by FBI Assistant

 DirectorDale Watson that there

 was a

 close hold

on

 that info.

 This

 means that

 it was not to be

shared with anyone without

 the

 explicit

 approval

 of the

 CIA.

 I

 then strongly suggested

that

 the AG meet with George Tenet to get a

 full

 briefing on the matter.

I

 resumed my agenda but I was upset about the

 AG's

 lack of interest. He did not

tell

 me nor did I learn until April 2004 that the CIA

 briefed

 him on the increase in chatter

and

 level of threat on July

 5,2001.

On

 January

 21,2004,

 the

 Commission

 staff

 interviewed

 me

 briefly

 about

 any

dealings with the AG during that summer. They did not question me in detail about themeetings nor did they present me with any documents to review.