T5 B14 Misc Correspondence Fdr- Tab 1-12-30-03 Fsc Email Re Questions-witnesses For Upcoming Hearing 161

Pagel of 3 Joanne Accolla F

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Susan Ginsburg

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Tuesday, January 06, 2004 5:18 PM

To:

Team 5

Subject: FW: testimony for upcoming hearing FYI

—Original Message From: Chris Kojm Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 5:10 PM To: Sam Brinkley; Ellie Hartz Cc: Susan Ginsburg Subject: RE: testimony for upcoming hearing Ellie - I think you can add. in getting back to the families, that these are names very familiar to us and individuals with whom in most cases we have been in contact. You can add that we are in agreement on the importance of some of these individuals in telling the story, and that we appreciate their input as we work to finalize our witness list. Thanks, C Original Message From: Sam Brinkley Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 4:04 PM To: Ellie Hartz Cc: Chris Kojm; Susan Ginsburg Subject: RE: testimony for upcoming hearing

Ellie, Chris has some thoughts on this, too. We appreciate the suggestions, and as you know, have to determine how best to tell a fair, balanced story within the time we have. In the end, the report, vice hearings, should be the focus of all concerned. We are working the details of the hearing now, and at the appropriate time, will release the details of date/times/witnesses. Thanks.

Sam Original Message From: Ellie Hartz

Sent: Tue 1/6/2004 10:47 AM To: Sam Brinkley Cc: Chris Kojm Subject: FW: testimony for upcoming hearing Hi Sam -1 am forwarding to you a request from the Family Steering Committee for their suggested witnesses at the up and coming hearing. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks Ellie Original Message From: Carol Ashley r m a i l t o l I . Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 6:24 PM To: Ellie Hartz Cc: Monica Gabrielle; Sally Regenhard; Robin Wiener; Lorie Van Auken; Carie Lemack; Beverly Eckert; Kristen Breitweiser; Mary Fetchet; Patty Casazza; Carol Ashley; Mindy kleinberg; Bill Harvey Subject: testimony for upcoming hearing Dear Ellie,

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'9/ll Personal Privacy

Page 2 of3 I hope you had a peaceful holiday. In preparation for the next public hearing, please pass this information on to the appropriate Team and the Commissioners. Please let us know the Commission's decision on these recommendations by January 9th. Thanks. Carol ***************************************************************** At the next hearing on borders and immigration, the FSC recommends testimony be taken under oath from the following people: re: Visa Express Mary Ryan, head of Consular Affairs (CA),the State Department agency which oversaw consulates and visa issuance (retired as of Sept 30, 2001) Mary Ryan. Ryan was the architect of the "courtesy culture." She wanted to eliminate the interview requirement for visa applicants wherever possible. She knowingly deceived Congress by telling lawmakers, while she was under oath, that there was nothing State could have done to prevent the terrorists from obtaining visas. She knew that State could have followed the law and denied the visas but she kept that from Congress. Thomas Furey, consul-general, US Embassy, Riyadh: helped establish Visa Express 1) Why was Saudi Arabia given special treatment and allowed to be so lax with visa applications, specifically, through Visa Express? 2) Why were incomplete, inaccurate applications approved? Maura Harty, Ryan's go-to woman at CA, until she left there to head Secretary of State Colin Powell's executive office last April. In that post this year, though, she lobbied Congress hard to keep open gaping holes in our border security, and she masterminded the lobbying campaign to hold onto the visa-issuance function. Worst of all, in the ten weeks between the time when she was tapped to replace Ryan and her Senate confirmation hearing, Harty didn't even bother to review the terrorists' visa-application forms. Dianne Andruch, a top deputy at CA who succeeded Harty as Mary Ryan's right-hand woman. Andruch mislead Congress when she implied at a June 12, 2002, congressional hearing that Visa Express had ended. It had not, and she knew that.

re: CIPRIS and SEVIS

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Thomas P. Fischer, retired District Director for the INS in Atlanta. He was aware of the CIPRIS project that was abandoned in favor of SEVIS (both are student tracking systems). If CIPRIS had been in place, it may have discovered overstays of some of the hijackers. Fisher testified before Congress on this issue April 2, 2003. Mary Ann Wyrsch, former INS Deputy Commissioner who halted CIPRIS system in

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Page 3 of3 October 1999. "This action dramatically scaled down the program and reduced the development of a national system to a state that can best be described as one of 'minimal life support'." [from the Congressional testimony of Thomas Fischer]

Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, Department of Justice 1) Why was the CIPRIS program discarded? 2) Also reference Fine's testimony June 6, 2002, before Senate Committee on the Judiciary http://www.usdo1.gov/oig/testimony/060602.htm

re; State Department/ Immigration Issues

Joel Mowbray. NRO contributor, and nationally syndicated columnist. Mowbray's exposs of the State Department led to the end of Visa Express in Saudi Arabia and the firing of the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Mary Ryan. He was the first journalist in America to review the visa application forms of the 9/11 terrorists, and he uncovered the fact that all 15 of the applications reviewed should have been denied on their face.

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