Thomas H.

Kean August 19, 2003

CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton
VICE CHAIR
The Honorable Thomas J. Ridge
Richard Ben-Veniste Secretary of Homeland Security
Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues, NW
Max Cleland
Washington, DC 20393
Frederick F. Fielding
Dear Secretary Ridge:
Jamie S. Gorelick

Slade Gorton Public Law 107-306 directs the Commission to investigate the facts and
circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including
John F. Lehman
the nation's preparedness for and immediate response to those attacks. We are
Timothy J. Roemer also mandated to identify and evaluate lessons learned and make
recommendations for the future. The statute authorizes the Commission to
James R. Thompson
secure needed information directly from any agency. The Commission has
thus made numerous requests for documents and discussions with officials
Philip D. Zelikow
EXF<~' ITIVE DIRECTOR
from your department. Given the extraordinary character of the 9/11 events
and our mandate, the scope and sensitivity of our requests have few, if any,
precedents.

We are therefore all the more grateful for the efforts you and your colleagues
have made so far to deal with our many, necessary requests. With so many
other issues confronting you and your staff, we do understand how hard this
can be. We try to make appropriate allowances when we know people are
doing their best. In July the Commission issued an interim report on our
progress so far. hi that report we said the coming weeks would be critical.
We promised another report in September that would appraise whether the
level of voluntary cooperation is sufficient so that we will be able to-do the job
we are charged to do under the statute.

That time is now approaching. You are entitled to some advance notice of
what we need. To make such a decisive appraisal and properly evaluate your
department's cooperation, we will assess:

1. Your policy choices—one way or another—on every access issue posed by

our pending requests.

2. Whether we actually receive the most important categories of documents

that are already overdue. We will follow up to be sure our points of
contact know which overdue documents we regard as litmus tests for
effective cooperation.
301 7'K Street SW, Room 5125
Washington, DC 20407
T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545
www.9'1 lcommission.gov
The Honorable Thomas J. Ridge
August 19, 2003
Page 2

We understand that you and your staff may need a few more weeks to finalize
policy choices and push through delivery of key documents. Therefore we
think it is reasonable to wait and assess the situation based on positions
communicated with us and documents that have actually been delivered or
otherwise made available to us by COB on Friday, September 5, 2003.

As the second anniversary of the devastating attacks on our country

approaches, we thank you for working with us to meet the challenge of
understanding how and why America suffered such a devastating attack, and
how to prevent another.

Sincerely,

Thomas H. Kean Lee H. Hamilton

Chair Vice Chair

cc: Joe D. Whitley

 g\ON ON

August 26, 2003

Thomas H Kean MEMORANDUM

CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton
VICE CHAIR To: Joe Whitley, Department of Homeland Security
Richard Ben- Veniste
From: Daniel Marcus, General Counsel
MaxQeland

Fred F. Fielding Subj: Most Important Overdue Documents

Jamie S. Gorelick

Slade Gorton As a follow-up to the letter to Secretary Ridge dated August 19, 2003,
here are the most important categories of documents requested by the
John Lehman
Commission that are overdue:
TimothyJ. Roemer
DHS Document Request No. 1 - Items 2, 4, 8, 12, 15, 18, 23
James R. Thompson

We look forward to the Department's prompt production of these

Philip D.Zelikow
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR overdue items, as well as positions on access to all of the documents
responsive to all of our outstanding requests, as set forth in the August 19
letter. If you have any questions, please give me a call.

cc: Dan Levin, DOJ

TEL (202) 331-4060

FAX (202) 296-5545
\vww.9-1 lcommission.gov
 U.S. Department of Homeland Security

September 5,2003

Daniel Marcus, Esq.

General Counsel
National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States
301 7th Street SW, Room 5125
Washington, DC 20407

Dear Dan:

I am responding to the letter of August 19,2003, from the Chair and Vice Chair of the
Commission to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and also the follow-up memorandum of
August 26, 2003, that you sent to Joe Whitley.

Based on the Commission's document requests to the Department to date and our
components' review of documents, in accordance with policies that have been communicated to
the Commission by the Department of Justice, and except as specifically noted below, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency ("FEMA"), the Transportation Security Administration
("TSA"), the United States Secret Service ("USSS"), U.S. Customs and Border Protection
("CBP"), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ("CIS"), and U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), all of which are components of the Department, have granted
access to all documents responsive to the Commission's requests, and we are not aware of any
responsive documents >as to which we would not grant access. Because of the unique nature of
the Commission's work, and in a spirit of accommodation, this has included extraordinary access
to extremely sensitive classified and deliberative documents. We are continuing to review
documents (and you aite continuing to request them), and if there are any documents for which
we would seek accommodation short of access to the document, we would of course discuss that
with you immediately.

With respect to the items in DHS Document Request No. 1 identified in your August 26
memorandum, CBP, CIS, and ICE have reviewed the potentially responsive documents and have
provided access to all responsive documents, except for CBP in the case of Item 2, and ICE in
the case of Items 2, 8, and 18. Explanations of those exceptions arc provided below.

, D. I1,.
Daniel Marcus, Esq.
September 5,2003
Page 2

In the case of Item 2, CBP and ICE have provided access to all responsive documents
except documents that contain classified information. The Commission may have access to those
documents as soon as appropriate transportation is arranged.

In the case of Item 8, ICE has provided access to the organizational chart, but additional
time is needed to create organizational charts that include names of personnel and dates of
incumbency. The reason is that, because of different methods of maintaining personnel records,
a separate search must be done for each person in order to determine his or her start date and end
of service. Similar searches are also required to determine if a person held more than one
position during his or her tenure with the INS. ICE expects to complete the requested
organizational charts by October 3,2003, although ICE will endeavor to complete them sooner.

In the case of Item 18, ICE has provided access to some responsive information in NSU
notebook #6. The main source of information, however, will be the individual's A file. That file
had been sent to the Federal Records Center ("FRC"), and the office that sent it there (in this case
the Washington Investigations Office) must request it according to protocol. That request has
been made. The initial response from the FRC was that they could not find the file, although the
probable cause of that problem is that it is under special storage restrictions because of the
existence of classified material in the file. The Washington Investigations Office is pursuing the
matter with the FRC as an expedited request, but a response from the FRC is not expected until
the end of next week. ICE will provide appropriate access to the Commission when it receives
the file.

With respect to FEMA Document Request No. 1, FEMA has reviewed the potentially
responsive documents and has provided access to all responsive documents, except four
documents classified as Top Secret for which descriptions have been provided to the
Commission. In accordance with established protocol, FEMA is awaiting verification of the
security clearances of the proposed Commission reviewers, and once such verification is received
FEMA will immediately provide access to such reviewers.

With respect to TSA Document Request Nos. 1 and 2, TSA has reviewed the potentially
responsive documents and has provided access to all responsive documents. With respect to
TSA Document Request No. 3, TSA has completed review of a majority of the potentially
responsive documents, and access has been provided to a substantial number of responsive
documents. TSA is continuing to review documents and expects to complete such review by
October 3, 2003, although TSA will endeavor to complete it sooner (and will continue to produce
documents on a rolling basis).
Daniel Marcus, Esq.
September 5,2003
Page 3

With respect to USSS Document Request No. 1, USSS has reviewed the potentially
responsive documents and has provided access to all responsive documents.

The Department is committed to cooperating with the Commission as it continues its

important work. Please do not hesitate to call me to discuss any concerns you might have.

Sincerely,

John M. Mirnick
Attorney
Office of the General Counsel