Immigration and the 9/11 hijackers Page 1 of 2

Joanne Accolla

F- "~ • Susan Ginsburg

St. .. Wednesday, January 28, 2004 2:12 PM
To: Ellie Hartz; Philip Zelikow; Chris Kojm
Cc: Emily Walker; Team 5
Subject: RE: Immigration and the 9/11 hijackers

Ellie,

We will address the CIPRIS/SEVIS issues in our write-up. Our discussion of these issues at the hearing was necessarily shortened
by time constraints. We also plan to have a thorough discussion of the INS work environment, which was also necessarily
curtailed by the hearing setting.

Thanks for passing on Beverly Eckart's suggestions.

Susan

Original Message
From: Ellie Hartz
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 1:45 PM
To: Susan Ginsburg; Philip Zelikow; Chris Kojm
Cc: Emily Walker
Subject: FW: Immigration and the 9/11 hijackers

I am forwarding Beverly Eckert's thoughts on the hijackers' visas. I think it is a constructive line of thinking. Let
~~ me know if you have some immediate thoughts to share with her. Thanks Ellie
Original Message ../9/11 Personal Privacy
From: Beverly Eckert fmailtol j
Sent: Wed 1/28/2004 10:33 AM
To: Ellie Hartz
Cc:
Subject: Immigration and the 9/11 hijackers

Hi Ellie,

According to reports from the recent hearing, some of the terrorists failed
to attend school in accordance with their visas. The staff should be
looking into whether CIPRIS (had it been implemented nation-wide after its
pilot program) would have identified this non-compliance. Is the abandonment
of CIPRIS another in a chain of missed opportunities to have prevented 9/11?
Would the current system, SEVIS, identify the terrorists under the same
circumstances? If not, should CIPRIS be re-implemented?

I was sorry to see that this line of questioning was not pursued at the
hearing but I look forward to a response by the staff.

Also, I'd like the staff to follow up with Commissioner Bonner as to the
identity of the INS officers who allowed the terrorists to enter the country
despite flawed/doctored documents. I spoke to Commissioner Bonner and he
agreed there shouldn't be a double standard, whereby accolades are given to
INS employees (i.e. Officer Melendez) for competent performance and yet the
identity of those who failed in their performance is concealed. There also
needs to be a comparison of their circumstances (chain of command) and work
environment with that of Melendez so as to analyze the differences,
especially when it comes to discretionary decisions. Only then can proper
recommendations for change be made by the Commission.

Thanks for your help on this, Ellie.

1/28/2004
Immigration and the 9/11 hijackers Page 2 of 2
Beverly Eckert

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1/28/2004