T3 B6 Hearing Books Fdr- Emails And Memos Re Preparation For March Hearing 053

February 27, 2004 MEMORANDUM To:

Commissioners

From:

Mike Hurley Team Leader, Counterterrorism Policy Team (Team 3)

Subj:

Commissioner Preparation for March Policy Hearing

As you know, the Commission will hold its eighth public hearing—Counterterrorism Policy—on March 23-24. The Commission has invited Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, William Cohen, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Samuel Berger, and Condoleezza Rice to appear at this hearing (see agenda attached). This hearing will pose unique challenges, both because of the rank of the witnesses and the extraordinary sensitivity of the Counterterrorism issues involved. Team 3 looks forward to working closely with Commissioners to craft questions that can be raised in public and address key lines of inquiry. We hope to get an early start on preparing Commissioners for what we expect to be a fascinating round of hearings that will educate the public on how the USG managed Counterterrorism before 9/11 and how it is fighting terrorism now. We think the best foundation for Commissioners is the series of memoranda for the record (MFRs) that we've drafted. To date, Team 3 has completed 130 interviews, many of which are interviews of key officials—including principals and deputies—from the Clinton and Bush administrations. The MFRs memorializing these interviews are rich in detail and context. Team 3 suggests the following sequencing for your preparation: 1. We're currently compiling a binder of what we call Team 3's "Greatest Hits"— the MFRs that we consider essential reading for Commissioners. This binder will also include some primary documents and a handful of outstanding press articles on U.S. Counterterrorism policy. The "Greatest Hits" binder will be available for review at the K Street office on Monday, March 1. It will be classified at the TS/SCI-level 2. Next, we'll prepare individual binders on each of the four areas that the hearing will spotlight: diplomacy, military, intelligence, and national policy coordination. Each binder will contain key MFRs and documents on its subject. We hope that this approach will allow you to drill down as deep as you want on the topics that most interest you. These four binders will be available for your review at K Street beginning on Monday, March 8. They will be classified at the TS/SCIleveL

3. On March 15, you'll receive an unclassified briefing book concentrating on the conduct of the hearing itself. We intend to keep this binder slim and focused. It will not contain classified material (as you won't be able to take such documents to the hearing room, or in fact, cite it during the hearing). The book will include the four staff statements we're currently drafting, the lines of inquiry we'll recommend, and articles and public statements of the witnesses that you may wish to draw upon in your questioning. Again, these unclassified materials will be sent to your respective offices on March 15. 4. During the week of March 15, we'll look forward to meeting with you individually to brief and prepare you for your respective roles in questioning the witnesses. Please let Stephanie Kaplan know which panel(s) most interest you, and we will assign Commissioner leads in the coming week. 5. Finally, the Commission will gather for a working dinner on Monday, March 22 (the eve of the hearing). That meeting will be devoted exclusively to preparation for the hearing. We will explain some of the background to the staff statements: the nature of the investigatory work and why we came to the (interim) judgments included in the statements. We hope that this sequencing will help you plan your time over the coming weeks and give you the additional background you'll need for the high-profile hearing you'll be conducting. You may wish to schedule additional time before or after March 2 Commission meeting to review these materials. Team 3 looks forward to working with you. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

/I To:

Commissioners

From:

Mike Hurley Team Leader, Counterterrorism Policy Team (Team 3)

Through: Philip Zelikow Chris Kojm Subject: Commissioner Preparation for Late March Policy Hearings Date:

February 18, 2004

As you know, the Commission has scheduled a round of public hearings on overall counterterrorism policy from March 23-24. The Commission is inviting Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, William Cohen, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Samuel Berger, and Condoleezza Rice to appear at these hearings. These hearings will pose unique challenges, both because of the high rank of the witnesses and the extraordinary sensitivity of the counterterrorism issues involved. Team 3 looks forward to working closely with commissioners to craft questions that can be raised in public and address key lines of inquiry. We hope to get an early start on preparing commissioners for what we expect to be a fascinating round of hearings that will educate the public on how the USG managed counterterrorism before 9/11 and how it is fighting terrorism now. We think the best foundation for commissioners is the series of memoranda for the record (MFR) that we've drafted. To date, we've completed 130 interviews, many of which are interviews of key officials—including both principals and deputies—from the Clinton and Bush administrations. The MFRs memorializing these interviews are rich in detail and context. Team 3 suggests the following sequencing for your preparation: 1. We're compiling a binder containing what we call Team 3's "Greatest Hits"—the MFRs that we consider essential reading for commissioners. The binder also includes a handful of outstanding press articles on U.S. counterterrorism policy and Team 3's overall sketch chronology of the policy story. The "Greatest Hits" binder will be available for commissioners' review at the K Street office beginning February 23. 2. Next, we're preparing individual binders on each of the four areas that the hearings will spotlight: diplomacy, military efforts, intelligence, and national policy coordination. Each binder will contain key MFRs on its subject, as well as an associated and more detailed chronology. (For example, the diplomacy binder will include not only the MFRs for the interviews of Powell, Albright, Talbott, and Armitage, but also those of key subordinates such as Sheehan, Inderfurth,

Rocca, and Milam. It will also include our specific narrative chronology for the State Department.) We hope that this approach will allow you to drill down as deep as you want on the topics that most interest you. These binders will be available for your review at K Street beginning on Monday, March 1. 3. Our actual Hearing Books—what you will use during the hearings themselves— are due on March 15. Because of the classified and detailed background reading we hope you'll have already done, we intend to keep these slim and focused. They will not contain Top Secret or compartmented material (as you won't be able to take any such documents to the non-secure hearing room, or in fact, cite it during the hearings). The Hearings Books will include the four staff statements we're currently drafting, the lines of inquiry we'll recommend, and articles and public statements of the witnesses that you may wish to draw upon in your questioning. These books will be available beginning on March 15. They will be unclassified and may be taken home. 4. During the week of March 15, we'll look forward to meeting with you individually to brief and help prepare you for your respective roles in questioning the witnesses. We hope that this sequencing will help you plan your time over the coming weeks and give you the additional background you'll need for the high-profile hearings you'll be conducting. Team 3 is looking forward to working with you. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. NOTE: The "Greatest Hits" binder and the individual theme binders will be classified at the Top Secret/Codeword levels. Thus, they can only be reviewed at K Street Stephanie Kaplan will hold them in her safe and make them available to you at your convenience.

fy-f.l

S7^'

'

."^'

/'

*7Y£]

• no

Q » o/

0

Page 1 of 1

Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 12:29 PM

To:

Stephanie Kaplan

Cc:

Len Hawley; Team 3

Subject: Hearing Books

Stephanie: • I've asked Len Hawley to take the lead for Team 3 in organizing hearing books for Commissioners. He'll work closely with Marquittia in preparing the books. I've asked him to speak with you and solicit your ideas and advice on how the books should look. Len has some very good ideas, and will be open to the deep experience you've gained from the many commission public hearings that have been successfully staged to date. • We'll all be working with Len. Alexis, Scott, Warren, Bonnie and I will prepare, in close concert with the FO, lines of inquiry for Commissioners to ask each witness for inclusion in the books. Our plan is to keep the books unclassified, befitting the "public" nature of the hearings. • Alexis, Scott, Bonnie, and Warren will plan to have their individual classified binders-Intel, Diplomacy, Military, National Policy—on hand at the hearings for quick reference. Do you think we'll need any charts for the hearings? At one point, a month or so ago, Philip thought it might be good to have a few charts (similar to the ones that were prepared for the visa issues for the late January hearings) listing the current objectives of the War on Terrorism. Those might be useful for the Rumsfeld interview. He could provide his analysis of how we're doing on each objective. Just an idea. Mike

3/10/2004

Page 1 of2

Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Thursday, March 04, 2004 6:18 PM

To:

Team 3

Subject: Lines of Inquiry for hearings Team 3:

An important task facing us is developing lines of inquiry for commissioners to use in their questioning of witnesses at our March public policy hearings

• Thus, please prepare lines of inquiry for: Albright (action: Scott) Powell (action: Scott) Cohen

(action: Bonnie)

Rumsfeld (action: Bonnie) Tenet

(action: Alexis)

Berger

(action: Warren, Mike)

Clarke

(action: Warren, Mike)

• We have interviewed all these officials privately (some on multiple occasions), and in advance of each of those interviews prepared detailed questions. Drawing from that substantial body of work that has already been done should make this task less onerous.

• We're not looking for pages and pages of questions. Rather, draft a 2 - 3 page, tight outline of key issues and the questions surrounding those issues that commissioners can explore in a public forum. Clarity will be important here.

• Where possible lay the issues out chronologically, so there is evident logic and flow to the lines of inquiry.

• Please have drafts done by Wednesday, March 10. We'll then submit them to the Front Office for review.

• Also, Philip reiterated that we should reach out to witnesses and/or their staffs to provide them with lines of inquiry information, additional to that contained in their invitation letters, to help them better prepare for their testimony. The goal is not to surprise the witnesses or "play gotcha", it's to make the hearings as strong and informative as possible.

3/4/2004

Page 2 of2

Thanks, Mike

3/4/2004

Page 1 of 1

Mike Hurley From:

Dan Marcus

Sent:

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:32 PM

To:

Mike Hurley; Front Office

Subject: RE: Commissioner Preparation for Late March Policy Hearings Mike - This is terrific. A couple of thoughts: You might note that the Greatest Hits and individual area binders can be reviewed before or after the scheduled Commission meetings on Feb. 24 and March 1, respectively. This should be obvious, but the obvious is often worth mentioning. ON para 4, you might offer the alternative (for outof-town Commissioners) of meeting with them the evening before the hearing session. It's not as good, but may be necessary. So, "If you won't be in Washington the week of the 15th...." Original Message From: Mike Hurley Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 4:48 PM To: Front Office Cc: Mike Hurley Subject: Commissioner Preparation for Late March Policy Hearings

Philip, Chris, Dan, Steve: Attached, for your review, please find a memo I drafted for commissioners that describes how they can get an early jump on preparing for the late March public hearings on counter-terrorism policy. I broached this approach with Chris yesterday and he supported the idea. If you concur, I suggest that Stephanie forward the memo to commissioners along with the other materials that will be sent to them in advance of next week's commission meeting; or perhaps the memo can be distributed to them at the meeting. Thanks, Mike

2/18/2004

Page 1 of 1

Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 4:49 PM

To:

Team 3

Subject: Memo to Commissioners

TeamSmates: Attached is the memo that I sent to the Front Office for forwarding to Commissioners. I'll let you know if the FO approves. Mike

2/18/2004

Page 1 of 1

Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 4:48 PM

To:

Front Office

Cc:

Mike Hurley

Subject: Commissioner Preparation for Late March Policy Hearings

Philip, Chris, Dan, Steve: Attached, for your review, please find a memo I drafted for commissioners that describes how they can get an early jump on preparing for the late March public hearings on counter-terrorism policy. I broached this approach with Chris yesterday and he supported the idea. If you concur, I suggest that Stephanie forward the memo to commissioners along with the other materials that will be sent to them in advance of next week's commission meeting; or perhaps the memo can be distributed to them at the meeting. Thanks, Mike

2/18/2004

To:

Commissioners

From:

Mike Hurley Counterterrorism Policy Team (Team 3)

Through: Philip Zelikow Chris Kojm Subject: Commissioner Preparation for Late March Policy Hearings Date:

February 18, 2004

As you're aware, the Commission has scheduled a round of public hearings on Counterterrorism Policy from March 23-24. The Commission is inviting Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, William Cohen, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Samuel Berger, and Condoleezza Rice to appear at the hearings. These hearings will pose unique challenges, given the high level of the witnesses and the extraordinary sensitivity of the issues they dealt with in responding to the terrorist threat. Team 3 will work closely with commissioners to craft questions that can be appropriately explored in a public forum. We wish to get an early start on preparing commissioners for what we hope will be a fascinating round of hearings, one that will educate the public on how the USG managed Counterterrorism before 9/11, and is conducting the war on terrorism now. We think the best foundation for commissioners is the series of memoranda for the record (MFR) that we've drafted. To date, we've completed 130 interviews, a significant portion of these are interviews of the highest officials (principals and deputies) of the Clinton and Bush administrations. The MFRs we've done memorializing these interviews are rich in detail and context. Team 3 suggests the following sequencing for your preparation: 1. We're compiling a binder containing what we call Team 3's "Greatest Hits." This will contain the MFRs that we consider the "must reads" for all commissioners. In addition, it will include a limited number of articles on U.S. Counterterrorism policy that we regard among the best, and Team 3's Overall Roadmap/Chronology. The "Greatest Hits" binder will be available for commissioners' review beginning February 23.* 2. Next, we're putting together individual binders on each of the four principal themes that the hearings will spotlight: Diplomacy, Military, Intelligence, and National Policy Coordination. Each will contain significant MFRs pertinent to its principal theme, as well as the associated detailed chronology. For example, the Diplomacy binder will include not only the MFRs for the interviews of Powell, Albright, Talbott, and Armitage, but also those of key subordinates such as

Sheehan, Inderfiirth, Rocca, Milam, etc.; and it will include our specific narrative chronology for the State Department. And so on for the other three topics. We think that this approach will allow you to drill down as deep as you want on the topics that most interest you. These binders will be available for your review beginning on Monday, March 1.* 3. Our actual Hearing Books—what you will make use of during the hearings—are due on March 15. Because of the background reading you'll have already done (see above), we intend to keep these slim and focused. They will not contain Top Secret material (as you won't be able to take any such documents to the nonsecure hearing room, or in fact, cite it during the hearings). They will include the four staff statements we're drafting, the lines of inquiry we'll recommend, and articles and public statements of the witnesses you may wish to draw upon in your questioning. 4. The week of March 15, we'll meet with you individually to help prepare you for your respective roles in questioning the witnesses. We hope that this sequencing helps you allocate your time over the coming weeks and gives you the additional background you'll need for the high-profile hearings you'll be conducting. Team 3 is looking forward to working with you. *Note: The "Greatest Hits" binder and the individual theme binders will be classified at the Top Secret/Codeword levels. Thus, they can only be reviewed at K Street Stephanie Kaplan will hold them in her safe and make them available to you at your convenience.