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S/ES 200316281 United States Department of State Washington, D.C.

20520

August 1, 2003

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

MEMORANDUM FOR MR. TOM ELDRIDGE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES SUBJECT:

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States request for Documents (Request for Documents Request No. 2)

This is in further reply to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States' request for Department of State documents. Attached is the second installment of documents in response to your request. Additional installments will be provided as we complete our search and review of material. This installment consists of unclassified documents. Please note that although the material is not classified, some of it may be "Sensitive But Unclassified" for law enforcement reasons. Therefore, we request that these documents be protected from unauthorized disclosure. We hope this information is useful to you. As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further*'" questions.

Karl Hofmann Executive Secretary

Attachments: 1. State Department documents 2. Incoming Request

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

S/ES No.200316281 REV United States Department of State Washington, D.C. JUL3I

ACTION MEMORAND

20520

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July 31, 2003

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SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED TO:

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- Under Secretary Grossman

FROM:

CA - Maura

SUBJECT:

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States request for Documents (S/ES No. 200316281/Request No. 2)

Issue for Decision •

Whether to make the attached materials available to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

In a June 24 letter (Tab 1), the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the "Commission") requested that the Department provide it with documents and information contained in a 19-item list of subject areas. State has already shared documents related to item numbers 1-7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18 and 19 on the Commission's list. This is the second tranche of documents (Tab 3) that we propose to make available to the Commission. The attached documents are primarily responsive to items number 8, 13, and 17 of the Commission's request. This tranche consists of documents setting forth the Department's budget requests and amounts appropriated by Congress for fiscal years 1998-2004; documents issued since the inception of the Visa Waiver Program setting forth policy and procedure; and documents summarizing training initiatives or briefings for consular officers instituted after 9/11/01, including several dozen "Intelligence Alert Bulletins" sent to consular sections. All of it is unclassified.

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -2CA is continuing its search for items listed in the attached request. Documents produced by NBA, PRM and S/ES are currently being reviewed. We will make the next installment

available to the Commission as soon as we have located and processed additional documents. The attached memorandum to Tom Eldridge of the Commission (Tab 1) will accompany the documents. This is similar to the -two previous memorandum^ that you have authorized for transmittal to the Commission in response to its request. Although the material is not classified, some of it is "Sensitive But Unclassified" for law enforcement reasons. Therefore, we have requested that the Commission protect these documents from unauthorized disclosure. In accordance with the Department's standard practice, we have also excised the names of drafting, clearing and approving officers below the level of Assistant Secretary or Ambassador, as well as information related to the deliberative process and other non-responsive information. Recommendation That you approve making the documents at Tab 3 available to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Approve

IpAj

Disapprove

--*••. -

1 AUG 2003 Attachments: Tab I - Memorandum to Mr. Eldridge. Tab 2 - Incoming Request from the Commission. Tab 3 - Index of State Department Responses to Items 8, 13 and 17.

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

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Thomas H. Kean CHAIR Lee H. Hamilton VICE CHAIR

Richard Ben-Veniste Max Cleland Fred F. Fielding

DOS DOCUMENT REQUEST NO. 2 The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the "Commission") requests that the Department of State (DOS or the "respondent") provide the Commission with copies of the following documents no later than July 8, 2003 (the "production date"): 1. All materials provided by the State Department to the Joint Inquiry.

Jimie S. Gotelick Slade Gorton John Lehman ' Timothy J. Roemer James R, Thompson

2. All documents provided by the State Department to the General Accounting Office in connection with its investigation into the visa process which resulted in the report: Border Security: Visa Process Should be Strengthened as an Antiterrorism Tool, October 2002, GAO-03-132NI. 3. Copies of all visa applications (not redacted) and any supporting documents, including information contained in computer databases, for all the 9/11 hijackers.

Philip D. Zelikow EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

4. All memoranda having to do with issuance of visas to the 9/11 hijackers. 5. Documents setting forth policy, procedure, evaluation criteria, and findings for the Visa Express Program and any other programs expediting visa processing in force from February 1993 to the present for Riyadh, Jeddah, Berlin, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi posts. 6. Annual statistical summaries and analyses of visa applications (including for thirdcountry national applicants), average processing times, categories of visas, refusals, and reasons for refusals (statutory provisions) for the period from 1995 through 2003 for Riyadh, Jeddah, Berlin, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi-posts. 7. Annual Reports of the Visa Office, and worldwide summary consular packages for the period 1990-2003. 8. Documents setting forth the State Department's budget requests overall and for Consular Affairs, Diplomatic Security, and Intelligence and Research (INR), and the amounts appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the President for those entities for fiscal years 1998-2004. 9. Documents describing the State Department's Border Security Program for the period fiscal years 1995-2004, including resources devoted to the program, clearance processes, and automated consular system support.

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

DOS Document Request No. 2 Page 2 10. Documents memorializing establishment and subsequent fee revisions of the machine readable visa (MRV) program, MRV fee, and related automation. 11. Memoranda to "7th Floor" principals, for the period 1993 to 2003, discussing policy priorities guidance with respect .to the issuance of visas, generally; the visa waiver policy; or visa and migration issues in relations with the following countries: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. 12. Documents, including memoranda, cables, and portions of the Foreign Affairs Manual setting forth the procedures to be followed and the amount and kind of evidence needed to deny a visa on terrorism grounds under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended, from 1998 to 2003. 13. Documents issued since the inception of the Visa Waiver Program at the level of Assistant Secretary or above setting forth policy and procedures on the implementation of the program and any subsequent modifications to it. 14. Policy guidance sent to posts after 9/11/01 setting forth changes to visa and refugee policy and procedures as a result of the events of 9/11/01. 15. All blank visa and refugee application forms used by posts and instructions to the field introduced after 9/11/01. 16. Documents describing efforts by State, alone or on an interagency basis, since 9/11/01, to reassess visas issued prior to 9/11/01 in order to determine whether any such visas had been issued to terrorist-affiliated aliens. 17. Documents summarizing training initiatives or briefings for consular officers instituted after 9/11/01 on counterterrorism, document fraud, and the CLASS system. 18. Documents setting forth policies and procedures implementing the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002. 19. Documents, including telegrams to the field, to and from officials at the level of Assistant Secretary or above setting forth policy and procedure statements regarding the visa referral program since 1998. The Commission requests that the documents requested above be provided as soon as they are available, even though all requested documents may not be provided at the same time, through means of a "rolling" production. If any requested documents are withheld from production, even temporarily, based on an alleged claim of privilege or for any other reason, the Commission requests that the respondent, as soon as possible and in no event later than the production date, identify and describe each such document or class of documents, as well as the alleged basis for not producing it, with sufficient specificity to allow a meaningful challenge to any such withholding.

DOS Document Request No. 2 Page 3 If the respondent does not have possession, custody or control of any requested documents but has information about where such documents may be located, the Commission requests that the respondent provide such information as soon as possible and in no event later than the production date. If the respondent has any questions or concerns about the interpretation or scope of these document requests, the Commission requests that any such questions or concerns be raised with the Commission as soon as possible so that any such issues can be addressed and resolved prior to the production date. June 24, 2003

Daniel Marcus General Counsel