Dm B6 Press Guidance Fdr- Memo- Background And Proposed Press Guidelines Post-leak Re Air Threat Conference Call Stonewall

^ AAAAMJb. Our Earlier Problem At our last meeting, we discussed frustration with getting transcript of an air threat conference call. We agreed that if the transcript were not made available by Monday, Aug. 18, we would send a demand letter. Because David Leitch asked us for a few days to complete their review, we held off, believing that we were pushing this issue to a successful resolution. Impatient with the pace of progress, Richard told TIME magazine about the character of the document, blaming the White House for what TIME called "stonewalling." TIME called the Commission and the Department of Defense for comment. Meanwhile the White House provided the Commission with access to the document, temporarily limiting access to the Chair and Vice Chair. TIME did not run the story. Despite being urged not to talk further to the press, Richard then provided added information both to TIME and to U.S. News, naming the principal participants in the top secret transcript, giving a sense of the length of the transcript and the questions he thought it might answer. TIME again contacted the Commission and decided not to run the story. U.S. News did run the story. The administration was angry that the internal discussions had been leaked to the press, stressing that the ongoing agreements were based on trust.

Proposed Press Guidelines Explain the mission of the Commission. Discuss our work program and the issues we will examine. Do not disclose internal Commission information without Commission agreement to do so, or approval from Chair and/or Vice Chair on behalf of the Commission. Without Commission agreement or approval of Chair/Vice Chair, do not disclose information about status of negotiations with White House or Executive Branch on documents and interviews. Specifically, do not discuss details about White House documents to which Commission has access. Do not discuss character of intelligence information we receive, especially information relating to foreign governments or detainees.

Do not disclose status of negotiations with the administration about access to documents, or the conditions agreed to by the Commission, unless the Commission decides to make that information public. If in doubt about how to address questions, talk to Chair and/or Vice Chair. They can also decide which such issues should be decided by the Commission as a whole.

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^x^MUe s Our Earlier Problem At our last meeting, we discussed frustration with getting transcript of an air threat conference call. We agreed that if the transcript were not made available by the following Monday, Aug. 18, we would send a demand letter. Because David Leitch asked us for a few days delay to complete the review, we held off, believing that we were pushing this issue to a successful resolution. Impatient with the pace of progress, Richard told TIME magazine about the character of the document, blaming the White House for what TIME called "stonewalling." TIME called the Commission and the Department of Defense for comment. Meanwhile the White House provided the Commission with access to the document, temporarily limiting access to the Chair and Vice Chair. TIME did not run the story. Despite being urged not to talk further to the press, Richard then provided added information both to TIME and to U.S. News, naming the principal participants in the top secret transcript, giving a sense of the length of the transcript and the questions he thought it might answer. TIME again contacted the Commission and decided not to run the story. U.S. News did run the story. The administration was very upset that the internal discussions had been leaked to the press, stressing that the ongoing agreements were based on trust.

Talking Points/ Proposed Press Guidelines The events of the last two weeks, with respect to disclosure to the press of our problems in getting access to the Air Threat Conference Call transcript, created serious problems in our relationship with the White House - problems we now believe we are working through successfully. We are putting that incident behind us. But we think it provides the occasion to discuss with the Comission some proposed guidelines for our dealings with the press: Explain the mission of the Commission. Discuss our work program and the issues we will examine. Do not disclose internal Commission information without Commission agreement to do so, or approval from Chair and/or Vice Chair on behalf of the Commission. Specifically, do not discuss details about White House documents to which Commission has access.

Do not discuss character of intelligence information we receive, especially information relating to foreign governments or detainees. Do not disclose status of negotiations with the administration about access to documents, or the conditions agreed to by the Commission, unless the Commission decides to make that information public. If in doubt about how to address questions, talk to Chair and/or Vice Chair. They can also decide which such issues should be decided by the Commission as a whole.