T3 B7 9-11 Victims Families Questions Fdr- 3-23-04 Email From James Hebert Re Questions (pg 3-5 Not In Folder) 101

Re: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member

Page 1 of 5

Mike Hurley From:

Ellie Hartz

Sent:

Thursday, March 25, 2004 11:42 AM

To:

Team 3

Subject: FW: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member First of all as a family member I want to THANK YOU all for an incredible hearing. So much information was forthcoming and so comprehensively presented it was a real service to the families and to the country. Obviously these are complex issues that cannot be understood in sound bites. I know these hearings are theater and you can only reveal the tip of the iceberg. What was presented was great - staff statements, testimony, questions (some I am sure not scripted!) You all should get an Emmy! Below are some more questions that were sent to Jamie G. Thanks again. Ellie Original Message From: Emily Walker Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 9:26 PM To: Ellie Hartz Subject: FW: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member

Original Message From: Dana Hyde Sent: Tue 3/23/2004 8:51 PM To: Team 8 Cc: Subject: FW: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member

fyi Original Message From: Jamie Gorelick Sent: Tue 3/23/2004 8:39 PM To: [email protected] Cc: Dana Hyde; Chris Kojm Subject: Re: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member You ask some very good qiuestions. The plan to which Rumsfeld referred is not a public document but there should be a good bit about in tomorrow's hearing. A subsequent hearing will deal with what happened on the day of 9-11.1 hope our report answers your questions. Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld Jamie Gorelick Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP 2445 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 (202) 663-6500 Original Message From: JKAH Snet <[email protected]> To: Gorelick, Jamie <[email protected]> Sent: Tue Mar 23 19:39:22 2004 Subject: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member

3/25/2004

Re: On the 911 Hearings - Family Member

Page 2 of 5

March 23, 2004

Dear Ms. Gorelick;

My name is James Hebert and my brother-in-law Adam Lewis was a victim of the September 11th terrorist attacks. I am very interested in, and appreciative of the work of the 911 Commission.

This afternoon I was able to hear portions of testimony from a number of public officials. Some of the testimony provided good information but also raised questions for me. Perhaps you can put into context for me the following issues.

FIRST:

Secretary Rumsfeld said that the administration had been developing a "comprehensive" global anti-terrorism strategy and that was completed in the week(s) before 911.

Where is this policy report? Is it a statement of goals or a comprehensive action plan? When was it scheduled to be implemented? What elements of the new plan did they feel made this strategy more effective than the course of action undertaken by the previous administration. Was the previous policy so deficient that it required a complete cessation of related activities until the new plan could be implemented? What anti-terrorism activities were discontinued in the interim and was this a responsible course of action? Was this policy change a substantive transition based upon facts, or an idealigical switch meant to satisfy a preconceived set of assumptions?

SECOND:

Secretary Rumsfeld said there was an arrangement between NTSB, NORAD and the military that immediately upon the hint of a hijacking they were to be notified and take action. Based upon the timeline (below) it seems this did not happen. Iheard the audio tapes of the flight attendants and they were very explicit. This was a hijacking.

At approximately 8:13, Flight 11 was instructed by air traffic controllers at the FAA's Boston Center, in Nashua, New Hampshire, to climb to 35,000 feet. The plane did not obey the order and its transponder was turned off. Air traffic control manager Glenn Michael said, "we considered it at that time to be a possible

3/25/2004