9/11 Commission Questions For Pentagon Official Whit Peters

Questions for Whit Peters Former Secretary of the Air Force, 1999-2000 November 25,2003 Introductory Questions: 1. Please provide us with a brief review of your background? 2. What is the role of your former office in the development of policy in DoD? 3. Did your office have a role in the development of CT policy? What was that role? What about a role for force protection? 4. In what way was your office involved in the Predator deliberations? 5. Did you office have any role in military operational planning? 6. Please give us a sense of the interaction of your office with the other offices in the Pentagon, specifically SecDef, JCS and within JCS, with J3, and the CCs. 7. Please give us a sense of your interactions in the interagency. a. Which agencies did you work with? b. Were these in formal interagency structures? 8. What did you see as the role of the military in combating terrorism? CT Priorities 1. What were some of the competing priorities (vs CT) of the military during your tenure. During the end of the Clinton administration - At the beginning of the Bush administration 2. Where did CT fall within that priority list during your tenure? - During the end of the Clinton administration - At the beginning of the Bush administration Predator 1. Do you recall when discussions about the Predator for use in Afghanistan began? 2. What was the Predator going to "fix" for the military? 3. What was your role in the discussions on the Predator? 4. What were the role of the Air Force in these discussions on the Predator? 5. Do you recall the discussions on the following issues: Who will pay? Who pays if an accident? Command and Control? 6. IS there anything else you want to add regarding the military's position on the use of the Predator in 2000? 7. Was there real time response capability if the Predator located a potential target? 8. Could the TLAMS have hit the location in time for that information to be useful? 9. Was the Predator a "silver bullet." 10. Please elaborate on how the Predator was used in Afghanistan. 11. Were you involved in any discussions about arming the Predator? a. What do you recall, what we the military (and Air Force) position on this issue, what were the debates and where did the Air Force and US military side on these issues during your tenure.

Military Operations Against A-O 1. During your time frame in DoD, do you recall any specific military plans developed to go after UBL or A-Q (besides the Predator and the TLAMs) 2. Was the USG policy community too reluctant to use other forms of military action against UBL and A-Q prior to 9-11? A result of the cruise missiles strikes in 1998? 3. Do you recall 13 options for going after A-Q that were developed by Shelton? 4. Do you recall a sense of frustration in the Pentagon at not being able to obtain the actionable intelligence it needed to go after A-Q and UBL? 5. Do you know if there were other plans for operations against A-Q and UBL (e.g., in GENICOM)? The Cole 1. After the bombing of the Cole, were there any military plans drawn up to respond to the attack? Did the military take any steps to acquire bases that could have supported a more aggressive option? 2. Do you recall any changes (planning, other visible changes) in the military following the Cole. Transition 1. Were you involved in preparing materials for the transition from the Clinton to the Bush administration? 2. Did you take part in any of the transition discussions with principals (either in OSD or the NSC)? If so, please describe the priority placed on CT by the outgoing and incoming administrations. Homeland Defense 1. Did your office play a role DOD activities in CM or CoM in the US? Clinton and Public Support 1. President Clinton's relations with the military have been characterized as bad. Do you believe that was true? If so, did this influence options the military produced? 2. There were no other actions against A/Q following the embassy bombings outside the TLAM strikes. Did the Monica Lewinsky issue and "Wagging the Dog" criticism following the TLAM strikes factor into the military planning prior to 9-11? Final Questions 1. In your view, was CT considered to be a mission by the military? 2. What did the military do right? 3. Is the military relied upon to often and took quickly to resolve international security issue? Was there enough of a comprehensive strategy against UB: and A-Q prior to 9-11?

4. What should we have asked? 5. What would be some of your recommendations? 6. Any views on the new role of SOCOM for CT military efforts?