National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony

The "independent bipartisan" National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States "was created to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and response to the attacks, as well as recommendations to prevent future attacks." [1]

Testimony of the 8th public hearing before the Commission commenced on Tuesday, March 23, 2004, and continued through March 24, 2004.

Testimony of the 9th public hearing before the Commission, which heard public testimony from Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, April 8, 2004.

Testimony of the 10th public hearing before the Commission commenced on Tuesday, April 13, 2004, and continued through April 14, 2004.

SCHEDULED HEARINGS

• Interview with the Commission at 9:30 AM on April 29, 2004, at the White House. See National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (George W. Bush and Dick Cheney).

• 11th public hearing before the Commission on "Emergency Response" on May 18-19, 2004, at New School University in New York City.
• 12th public hearing before the Commission on "National Crisis Management" and "The 9-11 Plot" June 8-9, 2004 in Washington, DC.

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Testimony: March 23 and March 24, 2004, April 8, 2004, and April 13 and April 14, 2004

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

STAFF STATEMENTS

• "Diplomacy," Staff Statement No. 5.
• "The Military," Staff Statement No. 6.

WITNESSES: Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Former Secretary of Defense William Sebastian Cohen, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers.

TEXT:

• PREPARED TESTIMONY

• Madeleine K. Albright.
• Colin L. Powell.
• William S. Cohen; also at Washington Post.
• Donald H. Rumsfeld; also at Washington Post.

• 9/11 Commission Hearings. Complete Transcript. Washington Post.

VIDEO: Links for video of testimony given by Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

STAFF STATEMENTS

• "Intelligence Policy," Staff Statement No. 7.
• "National Policy Coordination," Staff Statement No. 8.

WITNESSES: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency George J. Tenet, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency James L. Pavitt, Former National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger, Former National Coordinator for Counterterrorism for National Security Council Richard A. Clarke, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

TEXT:

• PREPARED TESTIMONY:

• George J. Tenet; also at MSNBC.
• Samuel R. Berger; also at MSNBC.
• Richard A. Clarke; also at Washington Post and MSNBC.
• Richard L. Armitage (MSNBC); also at Washington Post.

• 9/11 Commission Hearings. Complete Transcript. Washington Post.

VIDEO: Links for video of testimony given by Samuel Berger and Richard Clarke.

• C-SPAN Archive of each of the four sessions.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2004: Condoleezza Rice

TEXT

• PREPARED TESTIMONY: Rice's Opening Remarks before the Commission.
• QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Rice's Testimony before the Commission: Questions & Answers (as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.).
• COMPLETE TESTIMONY: Rice's Complete Testimony and Comparing Rice and Clark (Washington Post).

VIDEO

• PREPARED TESTIMONY: Rice's Opening Remarks before the Commission (Washington Post).
• Rice Defends Bush Efforts to Combat Terrorism (Washington Post).
• Rice Rejects Clarke's Claims (Washington Post).

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Tuesday, April 13, 2004

STAFF STATEMENTS

• "Law Enforcement, Counterterrorism, and Intelligence Collection in the United States Prior to 9/11," Staff Statement No. 9.
• "Threats and Responses in 2001," Staff Statement No. 10.

WITNESSES: Former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Louis J. Freeh, Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, Former Acting Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Thomas J. Pickard, Former Director, Counterterrorism Center, Central Intelligence Agency, Ambassador J. Cofer Black, and Attorney General of the United States John David Ashcroft.

TEXT

• PREPARED TESTIMONY

• Louis J. Freeh; also at Washington Post.
• Janet Reno; also at Washington Post.
• Thomas J. Pickard.
• Ambassador J. Cofer Black.
• John Ashcroft; also at CBS News.

• COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

• Louis J. Freeh (Washington Post).
• Janet Reno (Washington Post).
• Thomas J. Pickard (Washington Post).
• John Ashcroft (Washington Post).

• 9/11 Commission Hearings. Complete Transcript. (Washington Post).

VIDEO

• Louis J. Freeh (Washington Post).
• Janet Reno (Washington Post).
• John Ashcroft's Opening Statement (Excerpt) (Washington Post).

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

STAFF STATEMENTS

• "The Performance of the Intelligence Community," Staff Statement No. 11.
• "Reforming Law Enforcement, Counterterrorism, and Intelligence Collection in the United States," Staff Statement No. 12.

WITNESSES: Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence John E. McLaughlin.

TEXT

• PREPARED TESTIMONY

• George J. Tenet (MSNBC).

• COMPLETE TESTIMONY

• George J. Tenet, including comments by John E. McLaughlin (Washington Post)

PANEL: "Preventing Future Attacks Inside the United States": Director Terrorist Threat Integration Center John O. Brennan; Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis, Department of Homeland Security, Lieutenant General Patrick M. Hughes; Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, John S. Pistole; Deputy Director of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency, James L. Pavitt.

TEXT

• PREPARED TESTIMONY

• John O. Brennan (MSNBC).
• Patrick M. Hughes (MSNBC).
• James L. Pavitt (MSNBC).
• John S. Pistole.

PANEL: "FBI Leadership and Initiatives Post-9/11": Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III and Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Maureen A. Baginski.

TEXT

• PREPARED TESTIMONY

• Robert S. Mueller III: "The FBI's Counterterrorism Program Since September 2001" (79-page pdf); also Opening Remarks (MSNBC).

• 9/11 Commission Hearings. Complete Transcript. (Washington Post); also New York Times.

• More transcripts to follow.

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Findings

• Committee Report on Diplomacy, Staff Statement No. 5, March 24, 2004: "Panel finds significant efforts by Clinton administration."
• Committee Report on the Military, Staff Statement No. 6, March 24, 2004: "Panel finds Clinton, Bush had plenty of options."
• Committee Report on Intelligence Policy, Staff Statement No. 7, March 24, 2004: "Panel finds CIA took lead in fight against bin Laden."
• Committee Report on Policy Coordination, Staff Statement No. 8, March 24, 2004: "Panel finds plan to take on al-Qaida stalled in process."

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Additional Transcripts and Excerpts

• "Testimony of Richard A. Clarke Before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States" (pdf), www.9-11commission.gov/hearings, March 24, 2004.
• Key Excerpts from March 23 and March 24 for Richard Clarke, Samuel Berger, George Tenet, Donald H. Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Colin Powell, Commissioner and former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb, and Madeleine Albright. (MSNBC).
• Excerpts of 9-11 Commission Findings, March 24, 2004 (MSNBC).
• Excerpts "From the Testimony" and Findings, Washington Post.
• Key Testimony in the 9/11 Investigation (CNN). Click on the "Gallery" for linkage.
• Condoleezza Rice Testimony: Opening Statement (full text); Testimony (Part 1); Testimony (Part 2); Testimony (Part 3); and Testimony (Part 4) from the Associated Press, posted by The Boston Globe (April 8, 2004).
• Links to Testimony Statements given by John Ashcroft, Thomas Pickard, J. Cofer Black, Janet Reno, Louis Freeh, Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, Sandy Berger, Richard Clarke, Richard Armitage, and Colin Powell at MSNBC.com.
• "Excerpts From Testimony on Terrorism by Intelligence Chief and Director of F.B.I.," New York Times.

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Quotes

• "The bottom line for me is, it just pains me to have to say that on the 11th of September [2001] that 19 men and less than half a million dollars defeated every single defensive mechanism we had in place -- utterly.

"It wasn't even a close call. They defeated everything we had in place on 11th September, with hardly, it seems to me, any doubt about their chance of success!" -- Bob Kerrey, March 24, 2004.

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SourceWatch Resources

• August 6, 2001, President's Daily Briefing Memo
• Bush regime
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Media Accountability
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (Condoleezza Rice)
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (George W. Bush and Dick Cheney)
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (John David Ashcroft)
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (External Links: March 2004)
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (External Links: April 2004)
• National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States: Testimony (External Links)
• September 11, 2001

Public Testimony Ends with Capitulation to Rice/Bush

The details of the agreement still portray a White House that has something to hide.

Paul Sperry writes on March 31, 2004:

"The fine print of the deal takes the chance of the commission taking sworn public testimony from any other White House official - including Rice's deputy Stephen Hadley, Bush's political adviser Karl Rove, President Bush himself or Vice President Dick Cheney - completely off the table. It also precludes the panel from having the option of calling Rice, who's made media statements contradicting evidence and sworn statements by other officials, back to testify."

"There's a raft of evidence to suggest that Philip D. Zelikow [Executive Director of the Commission] has personal, professional and political reasons not to see the commission hold Rice and other Bush officials accountable for pre-9/11 failings, and may be the de facto swing vote for Republicans on the panel."

"Though he has no vote, the former Texas lawyer arguably has more sway than any member, including the chairman. Zelikow picks the areas of investigation, the briefing materials, the topics for hearings, the witnesses, and the lines of questioning for witnesses. He also picks which fights are worth fighting, legally, with the White House, and was involved in the latest round of capitulations - er, negotiations - over Rice's testimony. And the commissioners for the most part follow his recommendations. In effect, he sets the agenda and runs the investigation.

"He also carries with him a downright obnoxious conflict-of-interest odor, one that somehow went undetected by the lawyers who vetted him for one of the most important investigative positions in U.S. history."