T5 B41 Notes 6-26-03 to 9-2-03 3 of 4 Fdr- Tab 10-7-28-03 Questions for JTTF 080

8/14/2019 T5 B41 Notes 6-26-03 to 9-2-03 3 of 4 Fdr- Tab 10-7-28-03 Questions for JTTF 080

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JTTF membersUpdated 7/28/03

Members of the JTTFs

I. Introduction

A. Background on 9-11 Commission - an independent, bipartisanCommission created by Congress and the President to investigate the 9-11attacks and make recommendations to prevent future terrorist attacks.

[We are not the congressional "Joint Inquiry" whose report has been in the newsrecently. We are a special Commission that by law is required to present itsreport to Congress and the President next spring.]

B. We are members of the Commission staff team focusing on lawenforcement and intelligence collection in the United States - primarilythe FBI.

C. We asked to meet with you based upon the position you have at the FBIand the work you do - we are not investigating you personally, and did notask to interview you because of anything you did or did not do.

D. We will use the information that we obtain from you in today's interviewto assist the Commissioners prepare their report to Congress and thePresident.

E. Although we understand you had no choice in the matter, we appreciateyou taking the time to talk with us and tell us about your work - before we

begin, do you have any questions about why we are here and what we aredoing?

II . Background

A. Education and training prior to entering the work force.

B. Employment experience prior to joining JTTF - any prior lawenforcement, security; or intelligence collection experience. What wereyou doing at your agency immediately before your assignment to theJTTF?

C. How and why were you selected by your agency to participate on theJTTF? Is there any particular prior experience that qualifies you for thisduty? Did you personally want to participate on the JTTF? When did youbecome a member of the JTTF?


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III. Job Description and JTTF Process

A. Please describe your current non-JTTF job responsibilities, if any.

B. Please describe your role and duties on the JTTF, and your involvement in

ongoing FBI counterterrorism investigations. How much of your time isspent at the FBI vs. your home agency?

C. What are your work priorities? Who establishes them? What are theJTTF's priorities and how are these priorities established? In your view,do one or more agencies have the clearly leading role on the JTTF? Whatis your agency's role in establishing or influencing the JTTF's priorities?

D. Please describe in detail how the JTTF functions and operates. Duringyour time on the JTTF, has this changed?

1. Does the JTTF open and run investigations, or is it more of aninformation-exchange center? Please describe how the JTTFinteracts with the FBI's CT investigations.

2. Does the JTTF have any input on whether to open or pursue apreliminary inquiry or full field investigation? Does it have anyinvolvement in selecting FISA/Title III targets?

3. Does the JTTF play any role in decisions to close investigations?

E. Please describe the role of other members of the JTTF outside of the FBI

members. How many CIA, DIA and NSA representatives to the JTTF arethere? Is their role on the JTTF different than other members? Pleasedescribe the participation and role of the members from the CIA, DIA andNSA, if any.

F. Please describe the level and adequacy of resources to the JTTF, includinginformation technology, professional personnel, and staff support. Hasthis changed during your tenure there?

IV . Access to Information an d Information Flow

A. Working in Top Secret/SCI: Do you have a TS/SCI clearance? Do allmembers of the JTTF have this clearance? Does the JTTF have access toits own SCIF? How many people can it accommodate? How many STUphones does the JTTF have? What level of clearance are they?

B. Who do you interact with at your home agency? What clearances to thoseindividuals have? Does your home agency have a SCIF? Does it have


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any STU phones? If so, how many, and what level of clearance are theyapproved for? How is significant, but highly classified, informationshared with your home agency? Does the classification system present abarrier to effectively acting on the intelligence?

C. To what extent are you and your home agency tasked withbeing acollector and provider of information? Even if you are not spec ificallytasked, to what extent does your agency provide information/intelligenceto the JTTF? Or is the JTTF primarily a provider of information to yourhome agency?

D. What is the current state of the JTTF's information technology, and howdoes it help or hinder you r ability to operate effectively? Do you have theability to access all relevant FBI intelligence on a timely basis, and if so,how is this access obtained? Can you access all CT matters within thesystem or are you blockedfrom certain matters?

E. How well does informationflow within the JTTF? Do you haveindividual access to FBI personnel outside of the JTTF structure(e.g., withWFO or HQ management)? Have the information sharing procedureschanged during your tenure on the JTTF? In your view, how couldinformation sharing be improved? Do you have direct access to data basesoutside of your home agency? Do other members of the JTTF?

F. In your judgm ent, how complete is your access to relevantIntelligenceCommun ity information and how timely is the inform ation you receive?Does the JTTF have accessto Intellink? Does the JTTF ever receiveraw

intelligence? If not, who provides the intelligence the JTTF receives an din what form?

G. How effectively can the JTTF task other agencies (including your homeagency), foreign intelligence and law enforcemen t partners, and state andlocal law enforcement to collect and provide informa tion? To the extentthe JTTF receives responses, how timely andhelpful are they?

H. To what extent does the JTTF process and/or analyze the information?Does the JTTF produce any original intelligence productsfordissemination? In whatform or forms? Who is the "owner" of such

products?

I. Please describe in detail how the JTTF shares information outside of theJTTF members. Does"ORCON" provide a significant barrierto thesharing of information for members of the JTTF? Who decides whatinformation can be shared, an d on what basis are thesedecisions made? Inyour view, how well does informationflow out to the members' homeagencies?


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J. Does the status of your home agency's information technology affect theextent to which or how well it can utilize the JTTF's intelligence? Arethere other barriers to your home agency's ability to receive or act on theintelligence available to you?

K. Please describe the JTTF's role in providing guidance to collectors ofintelligence (such as Special Agents, Surveillance Specialists, state andlocal law enforcement, the CIA, NSA, and others) and analysts.

V. Training and Career Development

A. The extent and effectivenessof the training you receive hi internationalterrorism.

B. The adequacy of international terrorism-related training you receive on anongoing basis.

C. The extent to which training is mandated, and to which you can pursuetraining opportunities of interest.

V I. Supervision and Reporting

A. To whom do you report? Is your immediate supervisor experienced inintelligence and/or CT? To whom, if anyone, does the JTTF report? Isthere a management hierarchy within the JTTF? How does it work?

B. Who provides guidance to the JTTF and how much guidance do youreceive in performing your duties? Does your home agency play a rolehere?

C. How is your performance measured? How do you know whether youhave been successful in your work? How is the JTTF's performanceassessed? What is your assessment of the evaluation system? Has itchanged since 9/11 ? How could it be improved upon?

D. What is your sense of how well the agencies of the other members (e.g.,FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.) have been performing their CT responsibilities? Doyou have the sense that there is room for improvement by one or more ofthese agencies? Where and how? During your tenure, have you notedimprovement by any of these other agencies in detecting or deterringterrorism?

E. In what ways do you feel the collaboration created by the JTTF structurehas been particularly effective? In your judgment, how could the


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collaboration and information sharing with outside agencies be improvedupon? What obstacles do you perceive to making these improvements?

VIII. Recent Reforms

A. During your tenure within the JTTF, what changes, if any, have beenproposed or implemented in the way you perform your work and the wayyour particular unit or office strives to accomplish its mission?

B. What is your sense of how well the JTTF functioned prior to thesechanges?

C. Has the JTTF undergone more than one round of reforms since youstarted? Please describe them in detail. Is the JTTF currently undergoingreform? Are there proposed reforms that are yet to be implemented?

D. In your judgment, have these reforms been helpful to accomplishing yourmission? Please describe some specific ways in which the reforms haveactually improved the JTTF's success.

E. In what ways, if any, have the reforms created new issues or obstacles tosuccessfully completing your mission?

F. If it were up to you, what additional reforms or changes to the way theJTTF operates would you suggest in order to achieve the greatest possiblesuccess in completing your mission? What obstacles exist, if any, to

implementing any of the reforms you would propose?

IX . Home Agency's Counterterrorism Strategy

A. Please describe your home agency's approach to detecting, deterring, andpreventing terrorism. Among all of the responsibilities your home agencyhas, where do counterterrorism responsibilities rank in priority? Whatpercentage of its time is spent on counterterrorism?

B. During your tenure there, have you detected a shift in emphasis oncounterterrorism? How has your home agency's actual approach tocounterterrorism changed? When did it change? Is it changing still? Dida shift in resources (personnel, technology, etc.) accompany the shift instrategy?

C. In your estimation, were the changes necessary and substantive? Has theincreased emphasis on counterterrorism changed the way in which you


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have worked? Please describe in detail the specific ways in which yourwork has changed as a result of the shift in strategy.

D. Who within your home agency allocates resources and determinespriorities for accommodating or implementing changes to counterterrorism

strategy? Is there a formal process for setting goals and objectives withinyour home agency with respect to achieving an effective counterterrorismstrategy?

E. How often does your home agency's approach to counterterrorism getreevaluated? How does your home agency measure the effectiveness ofyour counterterrorism strategy? Is there a formal process for evaluation?

H. In your view, has the new emphasis on counterterrorism negativelyimpacted the other priorities of your home agency? In what ways? Inyour view, is the emphasis on counterterrorism appropriate, or is it being

over- or under-emphasized relative to other priorities?

X. Comparison of Pre- vs. Post- 9/11 Approaches to Counterterrorism

A. What is your overall assessment of the way in which the FBI operated todetect, prevent, and deter terrorism in the United States prior to 9/11?

B. What is your overall assessment of the way in which the FBI operates todetect, prevent, and deter terrorism in the United States today?

C. hi your view, what accounts for the failures, if any, in the FBI's approachto counterterrorism prior to 9/11? What barriers existed that prevented theaccomplishment of any necessary reforms before 9/11?

D. hi your view, how far along is the FBI in actually implementing thechanges it has proposed?

E. Once the current proposals are actually implemented, in your view, willthe FBI have the best approach to counterterrorism possible? Areadditional reforms necessary?

F. If it were up to you, what additional improvements would you suggest tohelp achieve the most effective counterterrorism policy possible? hi yourview, what would be some of the most helpful suggestions we couldmake?

Documents

T5 B41 Notes 6-26-03 to 9-2-03 3 of 4 Fdr- Tab 10-7-28-03 Questions for JTTF 080