DM B1 Agency Letters FDR - Entire Contents - Document Request Responses and Certifications 180

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U.S.

Department of Justice
Office of Legislative Affairs

Office of the Assistant Attorney General Washington, D. C. 20530

September 5, 2003

Dan Marcus, General Counsel


National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States
2100 K Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036

Dear Mr. Marcus:

This responds to the letter from the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission to the
Attorney General, dated August 19, 2003, and to your follow up memorandum to Faith Burton,
dated August 26, 2003.

Based on our review of documents and the Commission's requests to the Department to
date, we have granted access to all documents responsive to the Commission's requests and we
are not currently aware of any responsive documents as to which we would not grant access as
defined in the September 5, 2003 letter from Dan Levin to Phil Zelikow. 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 are continuing to request them) and if there are any
documents for which we would seek some other accommodation, we would of course discuss
that with you immediately.

With respect to the documents identified in the August 26, 2003, memorandum:

1. As to Document Request 2 - we have reviewed most of the potentially.responsive


documents and to date have provided access to all responsive documents. We are continuing to
review documents - primarily some highly classified documents and other documents that had to
be recalled from storage. We expect to complete the review of these documents by the end of
September, although we will endeavor to complete it sooner (and will continue to produce
documents on a rolling basis). We are not aware of any documents in these materials that will
raise any additional access issues but, of course, we cannot be sure until we have completed our
review of them.

2. As to Document Request 4 - the responsive documents were actually in possession of


the FBI. However, in an effort to accommodate your request, we are obtaining and reviewing
them. If they contain information relevant to the Commission's work, we will discuss with you
ways to make the information available consistent with protection of ongoing investigations. I
anticipate that we will complete this process by September 19, 2003.
The Department is committed to cooperating with the Commission as it continues its
important work. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any concerns about this matter.

Sincerely,

William E. Moschella
Assistant Attorney General
/
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
W A S H I N G T O N D.C., 2 0 2 2 0

September 5,2003

Mr. Phillip D. Zelikow


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

Dear Mr. Zclikow:

I am responding to the letter from the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission to Secretary of
the Treasury John Snow and also the August 26, 2003 follow -up memorandum from Dan
Marcus to me.

Based on our review of documents and the Commission's requests to the Department to date, we
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 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 categories of documents identified in the August 26, 2003 memorandum:

• As to Document Request 2 regarding documents from the Financial Crimes Enforcement


Network (FinCEN), we have reviewed and provided to the Commission all responsive
documents. At a meeting last week with John Roth, he requested that we double check
whether additional documents may exist related to a few of the questions in the document
request. I have reviewed this request once again with FinCEN counsel, and we believe all
responsive documents have been provided.

• As to Document Request 1 for Departmental Offices documents, we have reviewed many of


the potentially responsive documents and will continue to produce documents on a rolling
basis. This includes a great number of highly classified and other documents that had to be
recalled from storage. Our search also was made more difficult because the files of the
funnel office of the Under Secretary for Enforcement were moved out of the building in
March 2003, and there are not highly detailed indices regarding those records. We expect to
complete the review of documents subject to this request by October 8, 2003, although we
will endeavor to complete it sooner and will continue to produce documents as they are
reviewed. Currently, we are not aware of any documents in these materials that will raise any
access issues, but will work with you to resolve any issues should they arise.
• As to Document Request 3 for Office of Foreign Assets Control documents, we have
reviewed many of the potentially responsive documents and will continue to produce
documents on a rolling basis. This includes a great number of highly classified documents
that involve third agency material. For some of the highly classified documents, access to the
materials by Commission staff at Treasury may be the best way to provide you access. We
also expect to complete the review of these documents by October 8, 2003, although we will
endeavor to complete it sooner and will continue to produce documents as they are reviewed.
Currently, we are not aware of any documents in these materials that will raise any access
issues, but will work with you to resolve any issues should they arise.

We very much appreciate the positive working relationship we have with Commission staff and
their willingness to provide us guidance as we produce records. The Treasury Department is
committed to cooperating with the Commission and completing our document production as
soon as possible. Please do not hesitate to call me to discuss any concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. McGivem
Assistant General Counsel for Legislation,
Litigation and Financial Enforcement

cc: Daniel Marcus


Steve Dunn
John Roth
Brian Hook
SEP-05-2003 19:03 P.02
u.». ueparuneni ui justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Office of the General Counsel Washington, D.C 20JJT5


September 5,2003

Daniel Marcus, General Counsel


National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
Suite 300
2100 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

RE: Commission's Request for Documents

Dear Mr. Marcus:

I am responding to the letter from the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission to
the FBI Director and also the follow up memorandum you sent me on August 26,2003.

Based on our review of documents and the Commission's requests to the FBI to
date, we are not currently aware of any responsive documents as to which we would not grant
access as defined in the September 5,2003 letter from Dan Levin to Phil Zelikow. Because of
the unique nature of the Commission's work, and in a spirit of accommodation, our production
has included extraordinary access to extremely sensitive documents. We are continuing to
review documents (and you are continuing to request them) and if there are any documents for
which we would seek some other accommodation, we would of course discuss that with you
immediately.

The FBI has worked hard over the last two months to provide the Commission
with the information it needs and has made some rather extraordinary efforts to achieve that goal.
We have given the Commission access to over 1.6 million pages of documents. To address your
desire to have quick search capability through these materials, the vast majority of these
documents are available on two computer workstations at FBIHQ which we have trained your
staff to use. The workstations are equipped with software which enables a variety of search
techniques.

In addition, the FBI has provided extensive access to its employees. To date, the
FBI has provided the Commission with 16 briefings from senior FBI officials, supervisors and
frontline agents working on the PENTTBOM investigation and all other aspects of our
counterterrorism program. Many of these briefings have lasted several hours. Director Mueller
also made himself available to the Commission to review the changes he has made at the FBI
over his two-year tenure and bis vision for the future.
SEP-05-2003 19:04 P.03

With substantial assistance from the FBI, the Commission has also visited two
field offices: our Washington Field (WFO) and New York City offices (NYO). At WFO, we
facilitated the visit of your staff, which, over the course of being on site for three weeks,
conducted approximately 50 interviews of FBI employees or members of the Joint Terrorism
Task Force (JTTF) as well as taking tours of the WFO facilities.

Over the last two weeks, your staff has conducted a similar visit to our NYO
where it has completed approximately 38 interviews and plans to finish its work the week of
September 15th with an additional seven interviews. Many of the interviews have lasted for
several hours. The NYO visit also included an extensive briefing on the management of the
crime scene in New York and tours of Ground Zero and our New York Command Post. In both
WFO and New York, we have not refused a single interview request.

Moreover, to address your staffs stated desire to have a streamlined, informal


method of answering questions, we have offered to make our PENTTBOM team available for a
one or two day session to go through the timeline of events with your staff and provide answers
to their questions. In addition, we have offered to establish a weekly meeting with a
representative of the PENTTBOM team and members of your staff to provide an ongoing
vehicle for answering questions and providing information. We believe this represents
extraordinary access to the case agents who are still fully occupied with their investigative work
and demonstrates our sincere desire to be as cooperative with the Commission as possible.

With respect to the specific documents identified in your August 26, 2003
memorandum:

1. As to Document Request 1, items 8(e) and 8(f) - we have produced the


responsive documents for the five field offices that you have indicated you would like to visit
(Washington Field, New York, Phoenix, Miami and San Diego). As you are aware, the
responsive documents are quite numerous. To respond to other document requests which you
have indicated are of higher priority, we have not completed production of responsive documents
for the remaining five offices on your list which you have not indicated a desire to visit at this
time. That production will continue on a rolling basis consistent with priorities you set in light of
new document requests that you continue to propound to the FBI.

2. As to Document Request 5, items 2,4,5,7, 8,9, and 12 - our initial


production of documents responsive to these requests is substantially complete. We continue to
work with your staff regarding additional documents responsive to item 9 in particular. As we
have discussed in recent meetings, we are pleased to continue working with them in a
cooperative manner to identify additional helpful material.

3. As to Document Request 9, items 1,2, 3, and 4 — our production with respect


to these items is mostly complete. We produced a number of documents responsive to items 1, 3
and 4. Despite a thorough search process and discussions with relevant current and former
officials, we have not located any materials responsive to item #2, and believe we do not possess
such documents. We are working with your staff to have them review a sample of former
SEP-05-2003 19:04 P. 04

Director Freeh's calendars to determine if you are interested in those materials. We also
anticipate reviewing the remaining few archived materials as they become available. We expect
to complete that process by September 30.

The FBI 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 may have.

Sincerely,

TOTfiL P.04
U.S. Department nl Homeland Security

September 5, 2003

Daniel Marcus, Esq.


General Counsel
National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States
301 7* 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 ("CTSn'), 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 accommodarion, this has included extraordinary access
to extremely sensitive classified and deliberative documents. We are continuing to review
documents (and you azte 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.

Washington, D, I!. ?M
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. Mitnick
Attorney
Office of the General Counsel
StP. b. 2003 6; 17PM WO. 4728 P,

UNCLASSIFIED

Central Intelligence Agency


Office of General Counsel
Washington, D.C. 20505

Date: 5 September 2003


To: Mr. Daniel Marcus
Organization: Comro'n on Terrorist Attacks
Phone: 202/331-4065
Fax: 202/296-5545

From: 9/11 Closed by Statute 1

Organization: OGC/LD
Phone: 9/11 Closed by S t a t u t e
Fax:

Mr. Marcus, as discussed with Steven Dunn, attached please find CIA's
response to the Commission's letter of 19 August 2003. I will be attending the
briefing on Monday morning and will hand-deliver the original of the letter at that
time.

)/ll Closed by S t a t u t e

UNCLASSIFIED
SEP. 5 . 2 0 0 3 6:17PM NO. 4728 P. 2

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY


Washington, D.C. 20505

General Counsel

5 September 2003

Mr. Daniel Marcus


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

Dear Mr. Marcus:


We appreciate the Commission's letter of 19 August 2003
acknowledging the efforts that the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) has made to date to respond to the numerous requests for
information that have been issued by the Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States (the "Commission"). The CIA has
dedicated significant resources to satisfying the requests,
providing, to date, over 100,000 pages of highly classified
material and numerous briefings. Document productions include
over 50,000 pages responding to the Commission's various document
requests, as well as 50,000 pages that were previously produced by
CIA to the Congressional Joint Inquiry. The men and women of CIA
who have devoted substantial time answering these requests
appreciate your recognition of their extraordinary efforts. Based
on the agreement that has been reached with respect to the scope
of the requests and our searches, the status of our productions is
as follows.

1. We have completed productions in response to 7 of the 12


document requests issued by the Commission. Specifically,
productions in response to Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
Document Request Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 have all been
completed. We have agreed to provide periodic future updating
with respect to Document Request No. 4.

2. We have nearly completed production in response to DCI


Document Request Nos. 7, 9, 11, and 12 and expect to complete
production of these requests by 3 October 2003. CIA is still
searching for several documents responsive to Item No. 3 of
SEP. 5.2003 6:17PM NO. 4)28 P, 3

Mr. Daniel Marcus

Request No. 7. We have agreed to provide periodic updates for


Item No, 1 of Request No. 9.

3. Of the 40 numbered requests contained in DCI Document


Request No. 8 (DR #8), we have completed 26 of the items. As
previously agreed to by the Commission staff, Item Nos. 34 and 37
are currently in a "hold" status, although we have previously
produced a substantial number of documents in response to these
requests. CIA is still searching for documents responsive to Item
Nos. 30, 33, 35, and 36 of Request No. 8, but we expect to
complete production in response to these requests by 3 October
2003. In your memorandum dated 26 August 2003, you identify Item
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 18 of Request No, 8 as the "most
important categories of documents requested by the Commission."
Below is our report on these items:

(1) Item Nos. 1 (Presidential Daily Briefs [PDBs]), 2 (PDB


Feedback), 3 (Briefing Packages for Principals and Deputies
Meetings)_ of PR #8. We have been informed that the National
Security Council (NSC) and Commission Staffs are in active
discussion to resolve the handling of Item No. 1 of Request No. 8.
We understand that the Executive Branch focal point, Mr. Daniel
Levin, is responsible for working with the Commission staff to
resolve Item Nos. 2 and 3 of Request No. 8.

(2) Item No. 4, DR #8 (DCI Presentations to President of the


United States and Vice President of the United States). We
understand that the Executive Branch focal point, Mr. Daniel
Levin, is responsible for working with the Commission Staff to
resolve Item No. 4 of Request No. 8. At least one document
responsive to this request must be cleared with a foreign liaison
service.

(3) Item No. 5, DR #8 (Preparatory Materials for DCI's


Meetings with NSC, Secretary of Defense [SecDef], Secretary of
State [SoS], and Director/Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]).
We will produce documents responsive to this request pertaining to
the DCI's meetings with the SecDef, SoS, and D/PBI no later than
15 September 2003. We understand that the Executive Branch focal
point, Mr. Daniel Levin, is responsible for working with the
Commission Staff to resolve that part of Item No. 5 of
SEP. 5 . 2 0 0 3 6:18PM NO. 4728 P, 4

Mr. Daniel Marcus

Request No. 8 pertaining to the DCI's meetings with the National


Security Advisor,
(4) Item No. 6, PR #8 (Reports of DCI's Meeting with Senior
Foreign Officials). We will produce documents responsive to this
request (redacted to remove nonresponsive information) no later
than 3 October 2003, although we note that CIA does not
systematically store and maintain summaries for the numerous
meetings and conversations that the DCI has with senior foreign
officials.

(5) Item No. 6, PR #8 (Lessons Learned from Prior Terrorist


Attacks). The Agency has participated in a number of relevant
reviews conducted by Executive Branch entities, the Congress, and
outside commissions. CIA reviews major events, including
terrorist attacks, to learn how to improve its operations. In
December 2001, the DCI Review Group was established to provide a
broad range of analyses related to the 9/11 attacks and CIA's
earlier counterterrorism efforts. Relevant materials have been,
or will be, made available to the Commission, as requested.

(6) Item_No. 18, PR #8 (Agenda and Counterterrorism


Materials from DCI'3 Meeting with SecDef). We expect to produce
responsive documents no later than 3 October 2003.

We look forward to our continued cooperation to ensure the


Commission is able to fulfill its statutory mission in an
expeditious manner.

Sincerely,

Scott W. Muller
General Counsel

cc: Mr. Dan Levin


Department of Justice
SEP. 5.2003 9=53AM DOT/OST/GEN COUNSEL |W QMJ f/^*- NO. 131 P.2/,

US.D*portnwntof
Transportation GENERAL COUNSEL 40° Seventh Si., S.W.
Office of The Secretary • Washington, D.C. 80580
of Transportation

September 5,2003

Mr. Daniel Marcus


General Counsel
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States
301 7* Street, S.W., Room #5125
Washington, D,C. 20407

Dear Mr. Marcus

This is in response to Chair Kean and Vice Chair Hamilton's letter of August 19,
2003 to Secretary Mineta, concerning the efforts of the Department of Transportation (DOT)
to assist the Commission in carrying out its vitally important mandate, To date, DOT has
responded to all Commission requests for documents, briefings, and interviews, providing all
responsive materials that we have, under appropriate protective conditions as necessary.
Thus far, we have produced thousands of pages of documents and provided a number of
familiarization tours, briefings and other materials to your staff. We are currently in the
process of setting up interviews at nine air traffic control facilities around the country.

As you know, I have already responded to your August 26, 2003, memorandum on
"Most Important Overdue Documents". We have provided all of the responsive documents
and have just concluded the process of reproducing the requested Herndon ATCSCC tapes,
which are being provided to the Commission today.

I am confident that this cooperative relationship between the Commission and DOT
will continue as you proceed with your efforts. If I can provide further information or
assistance, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely yours,

Rosalind A. Knapp
Deputy General Counsel
PUG.29.2003 10:59fiM DOT/OST/GEN COUNSEL — NO.086 P.^/2

o,
Memorandum
U.5. Department of
TVansportation
Office of The Secretary
ofltansportarbn

Subject: Most Important Overdue Documents Date: 8/29/2003

*T-- -^
From: Lindy Knappc**--!
Deputy GeneraJJCounsel, Department of Transportation

To! Dan Marcus


General Counsel, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States

Thank you for your August 26,2003 memorandum on this subject. The status of mfc__ ..
documents is as follows: v

DOT Document Request No, 2 - Item 21:

Our July 16, 2003 response to the Commission included a chronology


of FAA's Operations Center events on 9/11/01, including communications
from Secretary Mineta. There are no other responsive documents,

DOT Document Request No. 2 - Item 22:

There are no responsive documents for this item. Secretary Mineta participated in
one or more press conferences during this period, and he was interviewed by Bob
Woodard. However, we have no transcripts or other documents relating to these
events. I thought we had conveyed this information earlier and apologize for our
failure to have done so.

Tapes and Transcripts for Hemdon ATCSCC:

The FA A projects that the tapes from the Hemdon ATCSCC will be available
next week. Reproduction of the ATCSCC tapes is a time consuming process as
this involves re-recording over 18 hours of communications due to the multiple
channels that were active during the time period requested by the Commission.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.


f\. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

Department of Homeland Security


1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20229

SEP 2 2L$ Deputy Commissioner

Daniel Marcus
General Counsel
National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
301 7th Street, SW
Room 5125
Washington, DC 20407
Re: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Document Production

Dear Mr. Marcus:

Pursuant to your electronic message of July 23, 2003, please find enclosed
responses on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The enclosed
indices indicate which documents respond to which questions.

Classified material and unclassified material maintained by our Office of


Intelligence that is responsive to your request is scheduled to be provided
separately to comply with procedures for the transfer of classified material.
Records relating to legal advice provided by the Office of Chief Counsel is being
withheld subject to attorney-client privilege; however, the final policies,
agreements, or other matters on which counsel has advised are provided by the
respective client offices as applicable.

The documents provided are for the 9/11 Commission's official use only and may
not be used for any other purpose. While the documents provided under this cover
are not classified, some items are law enforcement sensitive in that their disclosi
would he'p enable persons to evade detection by law enforcement. Other
documents may contain personally identifiable information about law enforcement
officers (e.g., Social Security Numbers) that ordinarily would be withheld from
public disclosure. Therefore, these documents are being released to you on
condition that they may not be disclosed to the public without prior written
authorization of this agency.

Pursuant to instruction from the Department of Justice liaison to the 9/11


Commission, we also provide any third agency or classified documents previously

Vigilance * Service * Integrity

^90 'ON Nnissiwwm u-fi IAMO^C; more;


provided to the Joint Inquiry Staff without further coordination or approval of the
originating agencies.

As you are aware, several weeks ago, CBP and the 9/11 Commission, scheduled
at the 9/11 Commission's request, the week of September 8,2003, for CBP to
make documents available to the 9/11 Commission. This arrangement is similar to
arrangements CBP (then Customs) had made with the Joint Inquiry Staff, and
would have minimized the Commission's document review burden. CBP has made
every effort to fully comply with the 9/11 Commission's request and the
rescheduled deadline. Any question or concern about the completeness of this
response results from the accelerated deadline and not the commitment of CBP to
provide the Commission with the documents and information requested.

If you have any questions regarding this production of documents, or have any
supplemental requests, please coordinate them through the Department of
Homeland Security point of contact, John Mitnick, or his designee.

Sincerely,

r*w#t4—^
Douglas Browning /1 ^
Deputy Commissioner/ /

Enclosures

I 'A TWO TIN NDlSSTWWm Ll-fi Ml'-l {007. '$


09/05/2003 05:40 FAX 202 647 5620 S ES

Executive Secretariat S/ES Room 7224 HST U& Department of State, W«sfafagton, D.C. 20520-7512

FAX Datc: 9/5/03


Number of pages excluding cover sheet: 4

To; From:
Mr. Dan Marcus Karl Hofmann
General Counsel Executive Secretary
National Commission on Terrorist State Department

•AtLacks upon -the United Stat-p?

Phone: Phone: 202-647-5301


Faxphone: 202-296-5545 Fax phone: 202-647-5620
CC:

REMARKS: Q Urgent For your information Q Please clear/comment

**REVISED - PLEASE IGNORE EARLIER VERSION


72003 05:40 FAI 202 647 5620 S ES 1^002

United States Department of State

Washington,D.C. 20520

UNCLASSIFIED ' September 5, 2003

MEMORANDUM FOR DANIEL MARCUS


GENERAL COUNSEL
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES

SUBJECT: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the


United States Document Requests: Responses to the Most
Important Categories of Documents

This is in response to your August 26, 2003 memorandum


outlining the most important categories of documents identified
by the Commission. Let me state at the outset that the
Department has provided approximately 32,000 pages in response to
the Commission's requests thus far, and we are continuing our
search and retrieval efforts. The Department has not
intentionally withheld any responsive information, and
anticipates withholding none. However, as you can appreciate,
conducting a comprehensive search of our electronic and paper
records, including files that have already been retired and
removed from the Department in accordance with federal records
management guidelines, is time consuming. We will continue to
respond as rapidly as possible to the Commission's requests.

The following is a detailed summary of the materials we have


provided in response to your August 26 memorandum:

Document Request No. 1, Items 1-5 and 9 - During the period


August 1-29, the Department sent six installments totaling 1,411
documents responsive to items 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9. Item 2,
concerning documents received from the National Security Council
and/or Executive Office of the President, were referred to the
White House for a determination on access restrictions, which I
have communicated to you in separate memoranda dated September 3,
4 and 5, 2003.

Document Request No. 2, Item 11 - On September 2, the


Department of State sent the fifth installment of documents to
the Commission in response to Document Request No. 2. This
installment contained 37 documents with information responsive to
item 11 of Document Request No. 2. Documents in the fifth

UNCLASSIFIED
Ob:40 FAX 202 647 5620 S ES 1^003

UNCLASSIFIED
2
installment of particular interest to the Commission were
memoranda to "7th Floor Principals" with visa issuance policy
discussions and post 9/11 refugee policy and procedures.
(Installments 1-4, containing documents responding to items 2-10
and 12-18, were sent to the Commission between July 16 and
August 28, 2003.)

Document Request No. 3, Items 1-4 - Three installments


consisting of 329 documents have been sent to the Commission in
response to Document Request No. 3. On August 15, the first
installment which contained documents responsive to items 1 and 4
was delivered to the Commission. The second installment of
documents, delivered to the Commission on August 22, contained
information responsive to items 2 and 3. The third installment
of documents, delivered to the Commission on August 29, contained
memoranda responsive to document request items 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Document Request No. 4, Items 2, 4, 6, 11, 13 - On


September 3, information responding to items 11 and 13 was
delivered to the Commission. An installment of 538 documents
covering items 2, 4, and 6 (as well as items 10, 12, 14-17, 19
and 23) was delivered to the Commission today. (Two installments
with information covering items 1 and 3 were sent to the
Commission on August 8 and 11, including 296 GAO documents
responsive to item 1.)

An additional 3730 documents have been indexed and are in


the final review stage for release, as follows:

request nos. 1 and 3 - 1,500 documents


request no. 4 - 2,230 documents.

Further, our document review teams are continuing to process


for indexing and release documents totaling some 9,225 pages,
which are estimated to be responsive to your five requests as
follows:

request no. 1 - 250 pages


request no. 2 - 1,125 pages
request no, 3 - 2,250 pages
request no. 4 - 5,000 pages
request no. 5 - 600 pages.

I expect these remaining materials to be provided to the


Commission no later than September 30, 2003.

We hope this information is useful to you. As always,


please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further
questions.

UNCLASSIFIED
"75/2003 05:40 FAA zuz 647 5620 S ES 0004

UNCLASSIFIED

Karl Hofmann
Executive Secretary

UNCLASSIFIED
THE SECRETARY OF STATE

WASHINGTON

August 25, 2 0 0 3

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Thank you for your recent letter co-signed by Vice


Chairman Hamilton. The Commission's investigation into the
facts and circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks is of crucial importance to our nation. I
take the Commission's requests for information from the State
Department very seriously. We are working to meet these
requests in the most thorough and expeditious manner possible.
I have instructed my staff to give the highest priority to
responding to your requests, so that the Commission can
effectively complete its important task.

As our country approaches the second anniversary of


September 11, I look forward to our continued collaboration to
assist you in your mandate. The Commission's evaluations and
recommendations will provide valuable information to the
American public and our government.

Please be assured of my continued support for the


Commission's important work.

Colin L. Powell

The Honorable
Thomas Kean, Chair,
National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks upon the United States,
301 7th Street, SW, Room 5125,
Washington, DC 20407.

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