c

Thomas H. Kean June 27, 2003

CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton
VICE CHAIR

Richard Ben-Veniste
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
Max Cleland General Accounting Office
441 G Street, NW
Frederick F. Fielding
Washington, DC 20548
Jamie S. Gorelick
Dear Dave:
Slade Gorton

John F. Lehman Thank you for the gracious lunch. It was a pleasure to meet with you, and very
valuable to discuss GAO's perspective on several topics of importance to the
Timothy J. Roemer
Commission. We also want to thank your staff, particularly Randall Yim, Rahul
James R. Thompson Gupta, and Cathy Berrick. They already have been very helpful to the
Commission and its work.
Philip D. Zelikow
EXE-"' TIVE DIRECTOR We would like to take this opportunity to follow up on some of the issues we
discussed and identify some items of particular interest to us. There are several
reports that GAO has already completed for which the Commission would like to
obtain access to the underlying workpapers, including interview writeups and
documents provided by the respective agencies. There are three such reports to
date:

• First, your recent report on the FBI's reorganization (GAO-03-759T);

• Second, your April 2003 report on the Justice Department's project to
interview aliens (GAO-03-459); and
• Finally, we would like to have access to the documentation for your
October 2002 report on the visa process (GAO-13-132NI).

We understand that there is some sensitivity to our obtaining access to these

materials. Please let us know what we may do to facilitate our staffs access to
these valuable materials.

In addition, we understand that you may be in the process of considering other

projects of potential benefit to the Commission. The first is a request from
Senator Schumer regarding federal agencies sharing information with local law
enforcement, particularly the provision of security clearances and overcoming
other obstacles to effective intelligence sharing.

301 7'1' Street SW, Room 5125

Washington, DC 20407
T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545
www.9-1 lcommission.gov
Page 2

Second, we understand that the Senate Banking Committee has indicated an

interest in GAO work on terrorist financing. In both cases, we would welcome
your commitment of people and resources to these topics, and believe you can
make an important contribution. If there is anything we can do to help persuade
you to undertake this work, please let us know.

Finally, as we discussed, the issue of whether a separate domestic intelligence

agency should be created to replace the FBI's current authority in the area of
counterterrorism is a question of significant interest to the Commission. It would
be of great assistance to us to know what would be involved financially,
structurally, and/or legally to create such an agency. Please let us know if this is
something with which GAO can help.

We look forward to working closely with GAO in the months ahead.

With best regards,

Thomas H. Kean Lee H. Hamilton

Chair Vice Chair