Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mike Hurley
TeamS'ers
By my count, we've got Tim Roemer, Richard Ben-Veniste, and Bob Kerrey
coming to prepare for tomorrow's Rice public hearing, and likely for the
Clinton interview.
Any and all are welcome to help deal with these commissioner today, or at
any time that they come.
So far, we have not been advised by the Front Office that we need to
attend. I'M try to find out whether we're supposed to be in "stand-by"
mode.
Mike
Original Message
From: Warren Bass
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 9:34 AM
To: Team 3
Cc: Front Office; Karen Heitkotter
Subject: Ben-Veniste prep
4/7/2004
WITHDRAWAL NOTICE
COPIES: 1 PAGES: 1
RESTRICTEDi_|
The item identified below has been withdrawn from this file:
FROM: Hurley
TO: Grewe, et al
WITHDRAWAL NOTICE
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
The answer to 3 is that it would have increased CIA's authority considerably, but that it was deliberately
shelved by NSC with Tenet's agreement because it was thought overall policy (eventually NSPD-9)
should be developed first. But issue is of limited importance, I have concluded, because CIA did not
propoise any CA that would have required greater authority than granted by Clinton MONs before 9/11.
Original Message
From: Warren Bass
Sent: Mon 4/5/2004 2:52 PM
To: Christine Healey; Dan Marcus; Alexis Albion
Cc: Mike Hurley
Subject: Gorelick questions
• Do we have anything on a late June 2001 FBI tasking to increase surveillance and contact with
terrorism-related informants? Mike Hurley can show you the original NSC notes that Jamie is
working from (the now-famous Clarke CYA memo after 9/11 on domestic steps taken). She wants to
be sure whether anything was ever done—including internal FBI documents. [Probably a Team 6
thing]
• Did Ashcroft have any reactions to the CIA briefing he got in summer 2001 on the threat spike?
[Probably Team 6 again; please see me if you want the reference to the briefing, which is in a CIA
doc briefed to us at NEOB]
• Does a certain draft document from March 2001 (if Dan and Alexis catch my drift) authorize an
expanded program? Or was it a clean-up? What's in the darn thing? [Dan or Alexis]
She didn't specify when these were due, but I figure somewhere between ASAP and pronto...
Chris, if the first two points aren't Team 6 issues, can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Warren
4/6/2004
Page 1 of2
Mike Hurley
Jamie:
• One question for Condi Rice could be: Who in the Bush administration pre-9/11
was overall in charge of counter-terrorism in general and the response to al Qaeda
in particular?
It's possible that she'll want to convey to the public that President Bush was an
activist and as the commander-in-chief was the driving force in counterterrorism;
that he set the direction of the administration and that his cabinet officials—those
heading key national security departments—implemented his vision and broad
policies.
• If that is her answer, then I think you can ask her how often did president Bush
meet with Secretaries Powell, Rumsfeld, Attorney General Ashcroft, and FBI
Director Freeh (until he left his position in June '01) between January 20 and
September 10, 2001 to discuss with them, either in a group or separately, the
specific details of a response to the USS Cole, the dimensions of the UBL and al
Qaeda threat, al Qaeda's threat to the homeland, the management of the 'summer
of threat', the deployment of the armed and/or recon Predator, the formulation of
military plans against the Afghanistan sanctuary, the regional policy review
(Pakistan, Afghanistan), and the so-called hard-hitting NSPD that was being
drafted in the summer of 2001.
• Note that in virtually all of the press pieces regarding whether al Qaeda was an
'urgent' problem or only an 'important' one for the Bush administration before
9/11, Rice and other White House defenders tend to call attention to Bush's
instructions to his staff-like Rice and Hadley-that he was tired of 'swatting flies',
etc. The defenders also point to Bush's daily briefings from the DCI as particularly
important, so much so that they obviated the need for briefings from the national
CT coordinator Clarke.
But they never say that Bush was engaging directly with Rumsfeld, Powell, Freeh,
or Ashcroft on our response to al Qaeda. That's likely because very little of that
engagement, if any, was actually going on. Powell and Rumsfeld told us that they
were not particularly engaged in CT matters in the first months of the
4/7/2004
Page 2 of2
• So, Tenet is giving the president threat information, but the question is: What is
being done about it? How is the president using it? He does not appear to be
giving instructions to his secretaries of defense or state, his attorney general or
his director of the FBI.
One other suggestion: It's important to ask why there was no response to the
Cole. But you should also ask Rice what the administration would have done if
another ship, military base, embassy, or American corporation overseas had been
attacked by al Qaeda in February, March, April, indeed through the summer of
2001.
• All the intel coming in from the spring forward indicated a big attack was in the
offing. Intelligence officials and Clarke and his NSC colleagues thought it would
happen somewhere in the Middle East (although Clarke did not dismiss that the
attack might be on the homeland). Thus, the Bush administration very easily
could have been confronted right from the get-go with an attack, requiring some
sort of response. Would they really not have acted if 100 sailors or soldiers were
lying dead somewhere after another al Qaeda attack? How would their response
have differed from what Clinton did after the 1998 embassy bombings? Was the
military in a position to have done anything dramatically different? If not, why
not? Was the military ready to go?
• They must have been thinking about this. It would have been irresponsible not to
have thought this through when the threat level was so high. Will her answer be
that they would have waited until their policy review was concluded? To be
consistent with why they took no action on the Cole, she'll have to say that they
didn't believe in 'tit-for-tat' responses. But that will look like a pretty feckless
answer.
Mike
4/7/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
From: Mike Hurley
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 6:40 PM
To: Front Office; Team 3
Subject: Commissioner Fielding has asked Me to meet with him on Tuesday morning
I'd like to be excused from the Full Staff meeting at GSA so that I can help
Fred Fielding prepare for the Rice Hearing and Clinton and Gore interviews.
Team 3'ers: please attend tomorrow's full staff meeting at GSA and take
notes so you can fill me in on what is covered.
Thanks,
Mike
4/5/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
If he or any other commissioner is interested in reading background material for next week's hearing, there are
two sets of binders on my K St. desk. A background book on Team 2 issues is with the Team 2.
Original Message
From: Mike Hurley
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 4:51 PM
To: Team 3; Front Office; Karen Heitkotter; Dan Leopold; Christine Healey
Subject: Fred Fielding Here On Tuesday for Rice Prep
Mike
4/5/2004
Page 1 of2
Mike Hurley
Jamie:
I had a pleasant telephone conversation with Chuck Boyd, who was, as you know, the
Executive Director of the Hart-Rudman Commission. Here's what he told me:
• Boyd and commissioners believed it important to brief Bush and Cheney before
the public rollout of the report.
Boyd and a few commissioners did have a teleconference with Rice before the
inauguration, during which they briefed her on key findings. That telephone
conversation lasted 30 minutes. Rice was engaged and asked questions.
• Some months later, Boyd and some of the commissioners briefed Colin Powell
and Donald Rumsfeld in separate briefings. Powell and Rumsfeld were briefed on
findings and items relevant to their respective institutions.
Boyd recalls that then Commissioner Lee Hamilton attended the Powell briefing
but not the Rumsfeld session.
4/5/2004
Page 2 of 2
o If in fact she did make that effort, then Bush and Cheney were too busy, or
turned the briefing down for other reasons.
Mike
4/5/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
Just a few follow-up points from your questions from this afternoon:
1. Clarke was the one who told us the USG was concerned about Fourth of July celebrations in
2001, as well as Genoa. Rice and Hadley don't mention the Fourth in their MFRs; they do
mention the concerns about an attack on the Genoa summit.
2. The title of the August 6 PDB didn't come up on Nexis, so I think it remains classified—
although I'm not sure what harm would be done to national security from revealing it.
Still, you may be interested to learn that Time magazine reported the following in May 2002:
"During the period in which the brief was prepared, says a senior intelligence official, the CIA
came to the conclusion that 'al-Qaeda was determined to attack the U.S."1 Fair enough?
Chris Healey has your FBI and Ashcroft-related questions; Dan Marcus and Alexis Albion have
your March 2001 draft document-related one. I'll wade back into the side-by-side chart as soon
as it gets moved over to the classified system.
Warren
4/5/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
Warren -
Warren -
Barbara is working on finding documents relevant to the question concerning the FBI tasking. (Our question is:
did it happen? None of our FBI witnesses gave us the impression that it did.) I think the Ashcroft MFR answers
the second question - he thought the attack would be overseas and that FBI had the problem covered.
Original Message
From: Warren Bass
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 1:52 PM
To: Christine Healey; Dan Marcus; Alexis Albion
Cc: Mike Hurley
Subject: Gorelick questions
Importance: High
• Do we have anything on a late June 2001 FBI tasking to increase surveillance and contact with
terrorism-related informants? Mike Hurley can show you the original NSC notes that Jamie is
working from (the now-famous Clarke CYA memo after 9/11 on domestic steps taken). She wants
to be sure whether anything was ever done—including internal FBI documents. [Probably a Team
6 thing]
• Did Ashcroft have any reactions to the CIA briefing he got in summer 2001 on the threat spike?
[Probably Team 6 again; please see me if you want the reference to the briefing, which is in a CIA
doc briefed to us at NEOB]
• Does a certain draft document from March 2001 (if Dan and Alexis catch my drift) authorize an
expanded program? Or was it a clean-up? What's in the darn thing? [Dan or Alexis]
She didn't specify when these were due, but I figure somewhere between ASAP and pronto...
Chris, if the first two points aren't Team 6 issues, can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Warren
4/5/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
His office will get back to me later today to advise when he'll be coming
over to meet with us.
Mike
4/5/2004
Page 1 of2
Mike Hurley
Team Leaders:
Please push this note to whoever you think might be helpful in answering
Jamie's questions.
• Did Dick Clarke ever brief Dr. Rice on airplanes as weapons before
9/11? (Warren, any indication of this?) Did Clarke brief her in the
aftermath of 9/11 about what was known about airplanes as weapons.
(My notes—9/11-9/20) don't indicate any such briefing.) Is there
anything in our interviews on this?
4/5/2004
Page 2 of2
• Regarding al-Hazmi and Midhar, when did the CIA tell the FBI these
guys were in the US?
• When did George Tenet know these two guys were in the country?
• Warren, are their any quotes from interviews or press regarding Dr.
Rice's intention/design to have a non-operational NSC? Jamie would
like to see these.
• And Warren, Jamie recalls seeing some details on the August 6 PDB
in the press. She wants to ask about this at the hearing and refer to
what's in public discourse. Do you, or anyone else, know where to
find this article?
• For Chris Healey: Chris, thanks for the pages of the Loy transcript.
Jamie would also like to see pages 116 and 117 of the Loy transcript.
Thanks to all,
Mike
4/5/2004
Page 1 of2
Mike Hurley
T^ Mike -- Chuck Boyd (former Deputy Commander EUCOM) is now the Executive Director of BENS
'A / (Business Executives for National Security) her in DC.
Original Message
From: Mike Hurley
Sent: Mon 4/5/2004 9:45 AM
To: Team Leaders; Front Office; Team 3; Team 2; Team 1
Cc:
Subject: Commissioner Gorelick Requests for Rice Hearing Prep Materials
,jr' \ Commissioner Jamie Gorelick will be at K Street this morning preparing for
Thursday's public hearing of Dr. Rice. She has asked us to collect the following
materials for her review this morning. Some of the items she's interested in are in
Team 3's portfolio, but some concern issues under investigation by other teams. I
would appreciate if team leaders would review the following list and determine
what each of you might have available to assist Jamie with.
i 'wi/w * Planning for military action in the Clinton and Bush administrations (Team 3
issue)
• Dr. Rice's September 1 1 speech. (I told her Dan Marcus has requested this
from the White House)
• Dr. Rice's May 2002 press conference (Team 3 has this in the public hearing
book that went to commissioners on Friday)
4/5/2004
Page 2 of 2
• Dr. Rice's quote about being turned over a "laundry list" by Clarke (We have
this quote)
• Communications between Dr. Rice or Steve Hadley and FAA and FBI
t jff \ counterparts during the late June early July 2001 timeframe re need to take
steps in response to high threat level
• She referred to a mid-level FAA person who testified at the commissions May
hearings and said that he attended the July 5 meeting for FAA, and that he
summarized that meeting for his boss. Jamie wants to know what that
official's name was and see the transcript of what he said
i-4- • Rumsfeld and Armitage quotes from our March 23, 24 public hearings on use
H of force before 9/11
Jamie intends to review her PDB notes and the Zelikow/Gorelick PDB summary
before the hearing
4/5/2004
Page 1 of2
Mike Hurley
Barbara Grewe was going to do a document request for FBI paper on the July 5th meeting because I don't think
we have anything.
I think Chuck Boyd was the PZ of Hart Rudman. Maybe Hamilton's office has his number. There maybe a copy
of Hart Rudman here, if you don't have it.
I can fax you the Loy pages since I have them on my desk. I will also fax you the FBI NLETS from the summer
2001.
Original Message
From: Mike Hurley
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 8:46 AM
To: Team Leaders; Front Office; Team 3; Team 2; Team 1
Subject: Commissioner Gorelick Requests for Rice Hearing Prep Materials
• Planning for military action in the Clinton and Bush administrations (Team
3 issue)
• Dr. Rice's September 11 speech. (I told her Dan Marcus has requested this
from the White House)
• Dr. Rice's May 2002 press conference (Team 3 has this in the public
hearing book that went to commissioners on Friday)
• Dr. Rice's quote about being turned over a "laundry list" by Clarke (We
have this quote)
4/5/2004
Page 2 of2
• Communications between Dr. Rice or Steve Hadley and FAA and FBI
counterparts during the late June early July 2001 timeframe re need to take
steps in response to high threat level
• Rumsfeld and Armitage quotes from our March 23, 24 public hearings on
use of force before 9/11
Jamie intends to review her PDB notes and the Zelikow/Gorelick PDB summary
before the hearing
4/5/2004
Mike Hurley
From: Jamie Gorelick
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 6:48 PM
To: Dan Marcus
Cc: Mike Hurley
Subject: Re: here's the fact sheet you asked about
Now that we are putting out a new statement for the Rice hearing for the purpose of giving
context to the hearing, and now that the White House has declassified a part of the NSPD,
we should have a more fulsome discussion of what is and is not in it - including
Armitage's, Rumsfeld's statement that no decision had been made to use force. The White
House has accused me of mischaracterizing the record. I did not say there was no
contingency planning - as there was also in the Clinton administration - but that there
was no decision to use military force and we need to state the facts - which are what they
are - for the record.
Thank you.
Jamie
Jamie Gorelick
Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP
2445 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
(202) 663-6500
Original Message
From: Dan Marcus <dmarcus@9-llcommission.gov>
To: Commissioners <Commissioners@9-llcommission.gov>
CC: Front Office <frontoffice@9-llcommission.gov>; Al Felzenberg <afelzenberg@9-
llcommission.gov>
Sent: Fri Apr 02 17:31:00 2004
Subject: FW: here's the fact sheet you asked about
FYI -- White House fact sheet (released yesterday, I believe) responding to "factual
inaccuracies" from our hearings last week.
Original Message
From: Cunningham, H. Bryan [mailto:H._Bryan_Cunningham@nsc.eop.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 3:29 PM
To: Dan Marcus
Subject: here's the fact sheet you asked about
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
TeamS:
Tim Roemer plans to come to K Street tomorrow (Friday, April 2) afternoon to meet with
us. His focus will be on prep for the Rice public hearing. He'd also like to review
anything we have prepared for our interview of Pres Clinton.
Tim will return next Wednesday (April 7) in the morning for a full day of prep for Rice
and Clinton.
Mike
4/1/2004
Page 1 of 1
Mike Hurley
Commissioner Gorelick will come to K Street at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, April 5 to meet
with Team 3 to prep for the Rice public Hearing and for the Clinton and Gore interviews.
Jamie will also meet with Team 6 to prep for the April 13-14 hearings.
Jamie's executive assistant, Mary Booth, also told me that Jamie intended to let
Commissioner Ben-Veniste know about Jamie's plans to be here on Monday, and that
Ben-Veniste might come to do prep at the same time as Jamie.
Mike
4/1/2004