r.
UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 5000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 2O301-500O
JUL 2 1 2004
INTELLTOSNcr
Dear Mr. Chair and Vice Chair: On behalf of the Secretary, I am responding to your letter of June 10, 2004. You asked for confirmation that the Department has completed its response to each of the Commission's document requests. Your staff has forwarded to the Department 39 requests comprising nearly 500 specific requests for documents and other materials. The Department has responded by providing the Commission with over 4,000 documents - spending an estimated 13,000 man-hours to assist the Commission in its important task. Over the past year, I have represented to the Commission that the Department's responses have been thorough and complete. You have now required that there be formal certification that all reasonable steps necessary to find and produce responsive documents have been undertaken. I have requested that the Department's component organizations that participated in this unprecedented and complex task certify that they have provided all responsive documents. Specifically, I have required that they certify in writing that their searches were complete based on their extensive yet reasonable efforts to locate all responsive documents. I, therefore, can assure the Commission that: To the best of my knowledge and based upon reports and representations made to me in the course of the Department's business and within the scope of my duties and the duties of the appropriate officials within this Department charged with the responsibilities to act upon the requests of the Commission, the Department has taken and completed all reasonable steps necessary to find the documents in its possession, custody, or control responsive to the Commission's document requests. The Department has produced or made available for review by the Commission all such responsive documents located.
The Department has produced or made available for review by the Commission all such responsive documents located. I attach a copy of the final index prepared by the Department to identify each document produced and the request to which it responds. You state in your letter that you seek this assurance so that you can rely with confidence on the Department's document production. My staff and I are fully aware of the tremendous efforts and great dedication of the many DoD personnel involved in responding to your requests and assisting you in your work. I am confident that the Commission can rely on this response.
Stephen A. Cambone
Attachment: As stated
TOTAL P.003
Thomas H. Kean CHAIR Lee H. Hamilton VICE CHAIR Richard Ben-Veniste Fred F. Fielding Jamie S. Gorelick Slade Gorton Bob Kerrey John F. Lehman Timothy J. Roemer James R. Thompson
Philip D. Zelikow EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
June 10, 2004 The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense The Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-0001 As you know, the statute that created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (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, as well as to evaluate the lessons learned from those attacks and to make recommendations for preventing future attacks. In connection with its investigation, the Commission has made 39 separate formal requests for documents from your department. The Commission does not anticipate submitting any further document requests to your department. To ensure that the search for, and production of, responsive documents has been completed, we request that you certify in writing, by return letter, as follows: "To the best of my knowledge and based upon personal inquiry of the appropriate officials, the Department has taken and completed all reasonable steps necessary to find the documents in its possession, custody, or control responsive to the Commission's 39 document requests. The Department has produced or made available for review by the Commission all such responsive documents that it located." For purposes of this certification, "document request" means the Commission's written document requests as modified by any communications with the Commission's staff, including agreements that certain potentially responsive documents need not be produced, that certain documents from other agencies would be handled by that agency, and that certain documents addressed or sent to or received from the Executive Office of the President (EOF) or that record communications with or coordinated by the EOF would be handled by the EOF. Your personal response to this request is critical to our investigation; it will allow the Commission to rely with confidence on the document production by your department. To avoid any delays in completing our work, please reply to us in writing no later than June 25,2004.
301 7th Street SW, Room 5125 Washington, DC 20407 T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545 www.9-llcommission.gov
26 Federal Plaza Suite 13400 New York, NY 10278 T 212.264.1505 F 212.264.1595
The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld June 10, 2004 Page 2
Thank you for your efforts, and for the efforts of many others at your department, to cooperate with the Commission and to comply with our requests. Sincerely,
Thomas H. Kean Chair
cc:
Lee H. Hamilton Vice Chair
Stephen A. Cambone, U.S. Department of Defense