Correspondence Between 9/11 Commission And Pentagon

Thomas H. Kean CHAIR Lee H. Hamilton VICE CHAIR Richard Ben-Veniste Max Cleland

August 19, 2003

The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-0001

Frederick F. Fielding Jamie S. Gorelick Slade Gorton John F. Lehman Timothy J. Roemer James R. Thompson

Philip D. Zelikow EXE<~' T1VE DIRECTOR

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: Public Law 107-306 directs the Commission to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including the nation's preparedness for and immediate response to those attacks. We are also mandated to identify and evaluate lessons learned and make recommendations for the future. The statute authorizes the Commission to secure needed information directly from any agency. The Commission has thus made numerous requests for documents and discussions with officials from your department. Given the extraordinary character of the 9/11 events and our mandate, the scope and sensitivity of our requests have few, if any, precedents. We are therefore all the more grateful for the efforts you and your colleagues have made so far to deal with our many, necessary requests. With so many other issues confronting you and your staff, we do understand how hard this can be. We try to make appropriate allowances when we know people are doing their best. In July the Commission issued an interim report on our progress so far. hi that report we said the coming weeks would be critical. We promised another report in September that would appraise whether the level of voluntary cooperation is sufficient so that we will be able td"do the job we are charged to do under the statute. That time is now approaching. You are entitled to some advance notice of what we need. To make such a decisive appraisal and properly evaluate your department's cooperation, we will assess: 1. Your policy choices—one way or another—on every access issue posed by our pending requests. 2. Whether we actually receive the most important categories of documents that are already overdue. We will follow up to be sure our points of contact know which overdue documents we regard as litmus tests for effective cooperation.

301 7lh Street SW, Room 5125 Washington, DC 20407

T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545 www.9-llcommission.gov

The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld August 19,2003 Page 2

We understand that you and your staff may need a few more weeks to finalize policy choices and push through delivery of key documents. Therefore we think it is reasonable to wait and assess the situation based on positions communicated with us and documents that have actually been delivered or otherwise made available to us by COB on Friday, September 5,2003. As the second anniversary of the devastating attacks on our country approaches, we thank you for working with us to meet the challenge of understanding how and why America suffered such a devastating attack, and how to prevent another. Sincerely,

Thomas H. Kean Chair cc:

The Honorable Steve Cambone Pat Downs

Lee H. Hamilton Vice Chair

August 26, 2003 Thomas H. Kean CHAIR

Lee H Hamilton VICE CHAIR

Richard Ben- Veniste

MEMORANDUM To:

Pat Downs, Department of Defense

From: Daniel Marcus, General Counsel

MaxQeland Fred F. Fielding

Subj: Most Important Overdue Documents

Jamie S. Gorelick Slade Gorton John Lehman

As a follow-up to the letter to Secretary Rumsfeld dated August 19,2003, here are the most important categories of documents requested by the Commission that are overdue:

TimothyJ. Roemer James R. Thompson

DOD Document Request No. 4 - Items 1 through 16, to the extent not already produced

Philip D.ZeliW

DOD Document Request No. 6 — Items 1, 2, and 4

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

We look forward to the Department's prompt production of these overdue items, as well as positions on access to all of the documents responsive to all of our outstanding requests, as set forth in the August 19 letter. If you have any questions, please give me a call. cc: Dan Levin, DOJ

TEL (202) 331-4060 FAX (202) 296-5545 www.9-1 lcommissiDn.gov

SEP-08-2003

19:43

UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 5OOO DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 2O3O1-5OOO

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8 ?003

INTELLIGENCE

MEMORANDUM FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES Dear Phil: The Secretary of Defense has asked me to respond to the August 19, 2003 letter from the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission and to the August 26, 2003 memorandum from the General Council of the Commission. Based on our review of documents as requested by the Commission, we have granted access to all documents responsive to the Commission's requests and are not aware of any responsive documents to which we have not granted access, included extraordinary access to extremely sensitive classified and deliberative documents to which you seek. The Components within the DoD have made a vigorous effort to meet the needs of the Commission. With respect to the documents identified in the August 26, 2003 memorandum: 1. Document Request 4 (Items 1 through 16 to the extent not already produced) The Commission has received all available documents responsive to these Items, with the exception of Items 4-6 and 4-7. Regarding 4-6 and 4-7, NORAD retasked the responsible component commands to exhaust all possible search avenues. NORAD believes that some commands may no longer have tfiese materials. NORAD will provide a complete accounting and closeout of these items by mid-September. With regard to 4-8 and 4-9, Commission staff members have previously raised concerns over the non-existence of personal pilot logs and various flight strips. NORAD has confirmed that the pilot logs do not exist and the 9/11 flight strips were routinely destroyed in accordance with standard operating procedure. (The classified memorandum from NORAD dated September 3, 2003 will be forwarded under separate cover.)

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In addition, the Commission staff sent an informal supplemental request to Item 4-1, asking for a transcript of the 9/11 NOIWON conference call initiated by CIA. CIA did not record that conference call. Initial searches by the NMCC/ NMJIC did not turn up a recording but we are continuing to search and are also querying other DoD components that may have recorded the conference call. 2. Document Request 6 (Items 1, 2, 4) Numerous materials responsive to this request have been consolidated and are being processed and reviewed. Among those documents are a number of White House- and National Security Council-originated documents that are being turned over to the Department of Justice for review. We are working to expedite the collection and processing of any remaining DoD documents. Those materials that contain infonnation relevant to the Commission's work will be made available as quickly as possible. I anticipate that we will complete our review of the consolidated materials within the next week. The Department is committed to cooperating with the Commission as it continues its important work. Please do not hesitate to call me to discuss any concerns you may have.

Stephen A. Cambone

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