FO B3 Commission Meeting 12-8-03 Fdr- Tab 2 Entire Contents- Tier a Interview Schedule- Guidelines for Interviews- 11-21-03 Letter From Monheim Re Terms for Interviews 672

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TIER A INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

a* of December 3, 2003

DECEMBER

12/4:

12/9:

12/10:

12/12

12/16:

12/17:

12/18:

M r. James Steinberg (12 - 3 p.m., at K Street)Former Deputy National Secu rity Adviser

Dr. John Hamre (3 - 5 p.m., at K Street)Former Deputy Secretary of Defense

ADM James Loy (9 a.m. -12 p.m., at DHS)Adm inistrator, Transportation Security Agency

Asa Hutchinson (2-4 p.m. at DHS)Under Secretary of Homeland Security

Ms. Janet Reno (1-4p.m., at K Street)

Former Attorney General

M r. John Ashcroft (10 a.m.Attorney General

12p.m., at Justice)

M r. Dick Clarke (9 a.m. - 5p.m., at K Street)Former National Coordinator for Counterterrorism

JANUARY

1/6:

1/7:

1/8:

1/8:

M r. Dale Watson (9 a.m.-11 a.m., at K Street)

Former Assistant Director for Counterterrorism, FBI

Madeleine Albright (3-5 p.m., at K Street)

Former Secretary of State

Mr. Louis Freeh (9 a.m. - 12 p.m., at K Street)

Former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

M r. James Pavitt (1-5p.m., K Street)

Director of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency



Tier A Interview Schedule (continued)

1/12: Mr.Dick Clarke (9a.m. - 5p.m., at K Street)

Former National Coordinator fo r Counterterrorism

1/12: Mr. Richard Armitage (2 - 4 p.m., at State)

Deputy Secretary of State

1/13: Mr. Robert Mueller (9:30 -1:30 p.m., at FBI)Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

1/14: Mr. Sandy Berger (10 a.m. - 4 p.m., at K Street)

Former National Security Adviser

1/15: Mr. Strobe Talbott (9 a.m. - 1p.m., at K Street)

Former Deputy Secretary of State

1/15 Mr. John Podesta (2-5 p.m. at K Street)

Former White House Chief of Staff

1/20: General Anthon y Zinni (ret.) (1-4p.m., at K Street)

Former Commander, United States C entral Command

1/21: Secretary Colin Powell (2-4 p.m., at State)

Secretary of State

1/22: Mr.George Tenet (9a.m. - 4 p.m., DCI Conference Room)

Director of Central Intelligence

1/22: Secretary John Snow (10a.m. - 12 p.m., atTreasury)

Secretary of the Treasury



GUIDELINES FOR DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY INTERVIEWS

It is in our mutual interest to have certain agreed upon general principles and procedures

for interviews in order to avoid disagreements at interviews to the extent possible. Both sides

will apply a "rule of reason" and be flexible in interpreting these guidelines. The various

notification provisions in these guidelines will allow the Executive Branch to identify and

discuss with the Commission any concerns any planned areas of inquiry may pose with regard to

the constitutional interests of the Presidency or particularly sensitive classified information. Both

sides will attempt in good faith to resolve any such concerns.

PRINCIPLES

In general, interviewers will:

• Focus only on what they need to know, that is, information of particularized importance

to the Commission's statutory mandate

• Seek information not otherwise available, first looking at prior testimony and documentsto determine whether the information is available elsewhere

• Look to the substance of discussions and the arguments presented in discussions rather

than verbatim exchanges

• Inquire into agency positions only when it is important to understand the significance not

only of a position taken but of which Department took it (e.g., DOD's position on the use

of military force)

• Not inquire about particular statements, or particular disagreements, for their own sake or

because they might be interesting

More specifically:

Witnesses may discuss positions taken by their agency or other agencies at White House or

National Security Council meetings (including, but not limited to CSG, Deputies, or Principals

Committee meetings), but interviewers will not elicit verbatim quotes from witnesses about what

participants said in such meetings, unless the quotation is especially important to understand

what took place in the meeting. To the extent the perceived need to elicit verbatim quotes may

be anticipated by the interviewer, this need should be discussed in advance of the interview.

With regard to post-9/20/01 matters, interviewers will not inquire into details of specific

operations, though interviewers may question officials about post-9/11 policies and programs

developed to deal with terrorist threats in response to the events of 9/11, including the

implementation and evaluation of those policies and programs. Except where there is a special

need, interviewers will not inquire into deliberations with regard to either the formulation or

implementation of policies after 9/20/01.



PROCEDURES

Pre-meetings for certain high-level interviews

With regard to interviews of witnesses at or above the Assistant Secretary level,

interviewers will meet with Executive Branch representatives reasonably in advance of any

interview in which they anticipate asking questions about specific positions taken by the witness

or other Departments or Agencies at White House or NSC meetings (including, but not limited to

CSG, Deputies, or Principals Committee meetings) and identify to the extent possible: the

specific meetings they wish to ask about, the specific Departments' and Agencies' positions

about which they wish to ask, and, as noted above, to the extent the need for verbatim quotes can

be anticipated, any verbatim quotes they may seek to elicit. Where feasible, a pre-meeting may

be scheduled to discuss a number of high-level interviews with a particular Department or

Agency, as long as the meeting provides this information with respect to each separate

interviewee.

In other cases, agency representatives may speak with Commission staff to seekadditional information concerning interviews.

Other consultations

If the Commission plans to ask any questions of any witness concerning individualconversations with, or statements by, the President, Vice President, National Security Advisor,

White House Counsel, or Deputy National Security Advisor, the Commission will consult

reasonably in advance with the EOF about the planned areas of inquiry for any such questioning.

If the Commission plans to question any witness about time at another agency (including

the White House or NSC), it will give reasonable advance notice of that fact to the agencyrepresentative.

Disputes

If disputes arise during interviews, both sides can try to contact Dan Marcus or Steve

Dunne at the Commission or Dan Levin, Bryan Cunningham or Tom M onheim to try to resolve

the issue. If any question is not answered and in subsequent discussions it is agreed it should be

answered, the Commission will have additional interview time with the witness (possibly byphone) to answer the deferred question(s).



T H E W H I T E H O U S E

WASHINGTON

November 21,2003

Daniel Marcus, Esq.

General CounselNational Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

2100KStreetN.W.

Washington, D.C. 20037

Dear Mr. Marcus:

I am writing to confirm the conditions under which we currently intend to provide the

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States ("Commission") with access

to officials from the Executive Office of the President ("EOF"). These conditions apply to those

individuals made available in response to the Commission's requests fo r "interviews" (Le,, EOF ;

Interview Request No. 1, dated August 27,2003 and EOF Interview Request No. 2, dated \r 23,2003)

Vice Chairman Hamilton dated October 27 and October 31,2003), as well as EOF officials made'

available in response to subsequent Commission requests.

As we have discussed, I believe it is in our m u t u a l interest to memorialize these

conditions in writing, in order to nmiiniize misunderstandings and to avoid, to the maximum

extent possible, any potential for disagreements during the meetings. I anticipate that both sides

will apply a "rule of reason" when applying these conditions.

O U T approach to developing the conditions fo r access to EOF officials ha s been guided byour responsibility to protect the crucial Constitutional prerogatives of the Presidency, for this and

future Presidents, while attempting to accommodatethe unique needs associated with the

Commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report - for thePresident, theCongress, and

ultimately the American people — on the attacks on September 11,2001. In this spirit, we

currently are prepared to provide the Commission with access to EOF officials as fol lows:

• EOF officials will be made available voluntarily andstrictly as a matter of comity

between the Executive and Legislative branches;

• Commission access to EOF officials will beprovided at "meetings" or "policy

briefings," which are not, and should not be referred to as, "testimony" or "interviews";

• Meetings will be reasonably limited in time (generally from 1-2 hours in duration, not

including time required forprepared statements, if any, made by EOF officials);

• EOF officials will not be placed under oath;

• Wewill inform you on a case-by-case basis whether werequest that meetings be

recorded; otherwise, meetings will not be recorded;



• EOP representatives will bepresent at the meetings (generally onerepresentative per

meeting from the Office of the Counsel to the President or the Office of the Legal

Adviser to the National Security Council);

• Commission representatives mayattend themeetings (generally nomore than five such

representatives may be present). For Assistants to the President (or equivalent) andabove, the Commission Chair or Vice Chair must bepresent; up to two other

Commissioners and two staff members may attend. For Deputy Assistants to thePresident (or equivalent),, the Chair or Vice Chair may be present, but at least one

Commissioner must be present For other EOF officials, no Commissioners need be

present;

• Meetings will be held in a SCD? in EO F office space, and all Commission and staff

members attending a meeting must have security clearances sufficient for any classified

information to be discussed;

• Absent unusual circumstances, EOPofficials will only be made available for onemeeting.

As you have recognized, our accommodation with regard to making EO P officials

available to the Commission does not set any precedent, either for future Commission requests orfor requests for state secrets, Presidential communications,or deliberative materials of this orother Presidents in any other context. Furthermore, these EO P officials are being made available

to the Commission with due regard for the Constitutional separation of powers and reserving all

legal authorities, privileges and objections that may apply, including with respect to othergovernmental entities or private parties.

Consistent with our agreement regarding other EOP materials, information obtained from

EO P officials is being made available to the Commission in confidence and as in closed session.

The Commission should make every effort to protect this mfonnatiott from any unauthorized

disclosure and from use for any unauthorized purpose.

We hope and expect that the above cooperative arrangements will proceed smoothlyandrespect the concerns of the Executive Branch. T f difficulties arise, we will work with you in an

. effort to resolve them in a mutually satisfactory fashion. Should implementation of these

arrangements ultimately fail to meet our expectations, we reserve the right to modify orterminate them consistent with the constitutional separation of powers.

I look forward to continuing to work with you as the Commission completes its work.

Sincerely,

lonheim

Associate Counsel to the President

Documents

FO B3 Commission Meeting 12-8-03 Fdr- Tab 2 Entire Contents- Tier a Interview Schedule- Guidelines for Interviews- 11-21-03 Letter From Monheim Re Terms for Interviews 672