1

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON

TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES

Public Hearing

Monday, March 31, 2003

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Auditorium
One Bowling Green
New York, York

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Copyright 2003 Facts on File, Inc.
Facts on File World News Digest

March 31,2003

SECTION: Pg. 245A1

LENGTH: 676 words

HEADLINE: Terrorist Attack Aftermath:September 11 Panel Holds First Public Hearing

BODY:
An independent commission investigating September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S. held its
first public meeting March 31 in New York City. Congress, after much political wrangling, had created
the commission in November 2002 to conduct a broad inquiry into the attacks and the government's
failure to prevent them.

New York Governor George Pataki (R) and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) each
addressed the first public hearing of the panel, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States. The session was held at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, several blocks
from the former World Trade Center, where nearly 2,800 people had died in the September 11 attacks.

The panel heard testimony from survivors of the September 11 attacks, and from deceased victims'
family members. The testimonials urged the panel to investigate aviation security, immigration
concerns, and the centralization of intelligence gathering and analysis.

Public hearings continued April 1, with testimony from Glenn Fine, the inspector general of the Justice
Department; Lee Wolosky, a former National Security Council lawyer; and Ken Holden, the
commissioner of the City Department of Design and Construction. The witnesses testified on possible
ways to prevent new attacks.

The panel January 27 had held its first meeting, a closed-door session in Washington D.C., at which it
appointed an executive director and established rules governing financial disclosures and recusals for
panel members. (Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had resigned as chairman of the panel in
December 2002, following media allegations of potential conflicts of interest between the inquiry and
clients of Kissinger's international consulting firm.)

The panel named Philip Zelikow its executive director. Zelikow, a University of Virginia historian, had
served as executive director for the Markle Foundation's Task Force on National Security in the
Information Age, which in October 2002 had produced a report urging the centralization of
counterterrorism intelligence gathering. Zelikow had held a similar post on an election reform
commission chaired by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

The September 11 commission had held a second private meeting February 12, after which Chairman
and former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean (R) announced that public hearings would commence in
New York the following month.

The panel was expected to hold hearings approximately every other week until May 2004, when a draft

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 STATEMENT OF CHIEF LITIGATING ASSISTANT
LAWRENCE S. KAHN, NEW YORK CITY LAW DEPARTMENT,
BEFORE THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS
UPON THE UNITED STATES
TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2003

My name is Lawrence Kahn, I am the Chief Litigating Assistant

of the New York City Law Department.

I would like to direct the Commission's attention to a serious

consequence of the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade

Center that needs to be addressed. I am speaking about the billions of

dollars in litigation that has been brought against the City of New York and

the very real potential that lawsuits will continue to be commenced for

many years to come. This litigation poses serious consequences for those

who responded so extraordinarily to the terrorist attacks. I cannot

emphasize too strongly how critically important it is that the federal

government take steps now to protect local governments and private

contractors from litigation arising from future terrorist attacks.

To date, more than 2300 claims have been brought against the

City related to the World Trade Center attacks. Virtually all allege injuries

incurred in the days and weeks following September 11. These claims are

separate from all the claims of the victim's families which, as you know, can
 STATEMENT OF FIRE COMMISSIONER NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA

BEFORE THE

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS

UPON THE UNITED STATES

April 1,2003

Thank you Chairman Kean, Vice Chairman Hamilton and Commission Members for this

opportunity to discuss the Fire Department's progress in rebuilding and enhancing preparedness

in the aftermath of 9/11.

I believe the Department has done an outstanding job over the last year and a half to

rebuild and recover from 9/11. By all statistical measures, the Department is performing its fire

and medical services functions as well or better than before that disastrous day. We have also

been working diligently to increase our preparedness for future potential terrorist incidents.

I. Background

As you know, the Department retained the consulting firm of McKinsey & Company a

little over a year ago to help us learn as much as possible from the tragic events of 9/11.

McKinsey worked intensively with a high-level team from the Department to examine the

response, operations and command structure that was in place prior to, during, and after the

attacks on the World Trade Center. The purpose of the study, which Mayor Bloomberg and I

released on August 19, 2002, was to make recommendations for improving the functioning of the

Fire Department's Incident Command System, communications tools and technology, and other

aspects of our response to large-scale incidents.

 STATEMENT OF POLICE COMMISSIONER RAYMOND W. KELLY
BEFORE THE
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS
UPON THE UNITED STATES
ApriM,2003

In the aftermath of September 11th, we felt it was important to get an

objective assessment of the Police Department's response, and we used
McKinsey and Company to help provide us with "lessons learned." We did
not ask McKinsey to provide a definitive history of what occurred on
September 11th>, but rather to identify opportunities where the Department
could improve.

McKinsey identified those opportunities and we have addressed each of

them, including improved coordination with the Fire Department. We've
established inter-operability with Fire Department communications. We put
Fire Department commanders in Police Department helicopters to help
them better coordinate operations at major fires. And we have senior staff
assigned to each other's headquarters to de-conflict any issues that may
arise.

There is a whole host of other initiatives we have undertaken, but I think it

would be a mistake for the Commission to focus exclusively on the events
of September 11th, on the day itself, without looking forward to the legacy it
has left us.

While much has been written about what transpired on that day, the most
important lesson of September 11th was the most obvious one: The United
States was unprepared to prevent major terrorist attacks against the
Pentagon and the largest city in America. The lesson learned quickly here
in New York City was that the Police Department had an obligation to do all
in its power to deter another terrorist attack.

We established a new Counter Terrorism Bureau to do exactly that, and we

recruited Lieutenant General Frank Libuiti of the Marine Corps to stand it
up and get it running.

We assigned 1,000 police officers to counter terrorism duties, despite

attrition in our ranks.