The Commission

by Philip Shenon

  I covered the 9/11 commission for the Times for twenty months, from the day of its first meeting in January 2003 until the day it closed its doors for the last time in August 2004. After that, I spent months covering the debate that followed in Congress and at the White House over how to respond to the commission’s recommendations. I developed a close relationship with several of the ten commissioners; there are some commissioners I spoke to virtually every day. All but two of the ten commissioners—Republicans Fred Fielding and James Thompson—agreed to give me extensive on-the-record interviews for the book. Both Fielding and Thompson did grant interviews to Kirsten Lundberg of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government for her well-crafted 2005 history of the commission, which the Kennedy School uses for its case-study program; I have used quotations from Ms. Lundberg’s report and I cite them in these notes. The commission’s executive director, Philip D. Zelikow of the University of Virgina, declined face-to-face interviews for the book. But he did agree to an extensive e-mail exchange over several months that, to my surprise, proved very successful. I know he gave up many hours of his time to deal with my questions, and I appreciate that. Whatever his opinion of this book and of me, I have huge admiration for Dr. Zelikow’s intellectual firepower and his talents as a writer and editor.

  There is an attempt in this book to draw readers into the rooms where the 9/11 commission did its work: into the commission’s offices in Washington and New York; the Oval Office, the Situation Room, and other offices at the White House; the director’s suite of offices at CIA headquarters, the mayor’s office at City Hall in New York, among them. That has required an attempt to reconstruct conversations of which I was not a part. In almost all cases and whenever possible, my sources for these reconstructions were the people who were part of these conversations. In all my years of reporting, I have never had an assignment in which so many of my sources have something close to photographic memories.

  Material in several chapters of this book is drawn from the public record, especially that material dealing with the commission’s public hearings. Although it is no longer updated, the commission’s official website, www.9-11commission.gov, is still available online and is now managed by the National Archives. On behalf of reporters and researchers everywhere, I can only hope it is maintained in perpetuity. It is an invaluable resource and includes all of the commission’s staff reports, hearing transcripts, and videos, as well as the commission’s complete final report. All quotations from the commission’s pubic hearings are taken from transcripts available at the website.

  More detailed notes for the book, along with copies of the government documents referred to in the book, will be available at the website created for this book: www.thecommissionbook.com. The website will also include extended e-mail exchanges between myself and Dr. Zelikow in which he responded to my questions. He is obviously entitled to respond to criticisms made of his leadership of the commission.

  Chapter 1. National Archives

  The theft of documents from the National Archives by former national security adviser Samuel Berger has been well documented, both in Justice Department filings made as a result of Berger’s criminal guilty plea and in separate reports by the inspector general at the National Archives and by the staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Many of the quotations from National Archives staff members and from Berger were drawn from these reports. Several of Berger’s friends and former colleagues, who to this day remain perplexed by his crimes but still admire his efforts in the Clinton White House to deal with terrorist threats, provided me with extensive help in describing his mind-set. Berger has been represented throughout his legal ordeal by one of Washington’s best lawyers, Lanny A. Breuer, and he was helpful in getting at the truth of this story. It is widely believed in Washington legal circles that Mr. Breuer got his client an extraordinarily lenient deal from the Justice Department.

  Chapter 2. 350 Park Avenue

  The December 2002 meeting in Henry Kissinger’s office was described to me by several of the 9/11 family members who were there, most notably Kristen Breitweiser and Lorie Van Auken, two of a group of 9/11 widows who became known as the Jersey Girls. Kristen’s book, Wake-Up Call, recounts some of the most colorful details of the encounter with Kissinger, the accuracy of which was confirmed by Lorie and others. Andrew Card, the former White House chief of staff, offered me an extensive interview in 2006 about White House dealings with Kissinger and the commission. Two senior White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, provided me with an account of Karl Rove’s involvement in the selection of a chairman for the 9/11 commission.

  Chapter 3. Bedminster, N.J.

  The commission’s chairman, former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean, agreed to be interviewed, in phone and in person, repeatedly from 2003 to 2007, and his account of his initial contacts with the White House are drawn from these interviews and from his 2006 book, Without Precedent, written with Congressman Lee Hamilton and Ben Rhodes, Hamilton’s very able deputy at the Wilson Center. Card’s comments are drawn largely from my interview with him. The background on Kean and his political career is drawn largely from my interviews with him and from two books: Governor Tom Kean, a fascinating 2006 biography by the historian and political scientist Al Felzenberg, who served as the 9/11 commission’s chief public spokesman; and Kean’s 1988 memoir, The Politics of Inclusion. Kean’s comments about the “eye-shade mentality” of Republican leaders in Washington were first reported in an article in The Washington Post by writer Dale Russakoff on September 1, 1995 (“Kean Blames GOP ‘Radicals’ as Reason Against Senate Race”).

  Chapter 4. Office of the Chief of Staff

  Andy Card provided me with the detailed account of his work in the White House and his liaison work with the 9/11 commission. In January 2005, Mark Leibovich, then of The Washington Post, now of The New York Times, wrote a terrific profile of Card that included a reference to Card’s “kitchen stove” memory technique for organizing the White House. The article, “Pressure Cooker: Andrew Card Has the Recipe for Chief of Staff Down Pat,” was published in the Post on January 5, 2005.

  Chapter 5. Office of the Majority Leader

  Close friends and aides to former senator Tom Daschle provided me with extensive information about how congressional Democrats selected their party’s members of the 9/11 commission. Howard Fineman of Newsweek was present in Daschle’s office when Vice President Cheney called in January 2002 to complain about Senate plans for public hearings on 9/11 intelligence failures. Fineman wrote about it on Newsweek’s website on May 22, 2002, under the headline: “Living Politics: Washington Looks for a September 11 Scapegoat.” Hamilton acknowledged his gullibilty in the Iran-Contra investigations in an interview with Stephen Engelberg of The New York Times that was excerpted in a profile of Hamilton published on May 11, 1989, in the paper’s “Washington Talk” column.

  Chapter 6. Office of the Chief of Staff

  Much of the material in this chapter comes from interviews with Kean and Card, and from Kean’s book, Without Precedent.

  Chapter 7. Charlottesville, Va.

  Much of this material comes from an extensive e-mail exchange with Zelikow in 2007. Mark Fabiani, the former Clinton White House official who was a college classmate of Zelikow’s, confirmed information about his partnership with Zelikow on their college debate team. The controversy in Japan over Zelikow’s comments there on the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was reported by the Associated Press in an article on July 17, 1992 (“About 50 Stage Sit-in to Protest U.S. Scholar’s A-Bomb Remark”), as well as in articles in Japan’s Daily Yomiuri newspaper and by the Kyodo news service. The controversy over Zelikow’s transcripts for his Kennedy book was set off by an article in the Atlantic Monthly by Sheldon Stern, the former Kennedy Library official, that was published in the magazine on May 1, 2000 (“What JFK Really Said”). Zelikow’s response to the article was published in the magazine on August 1, 2000. Card’s comment
s on Zelikow come from my interview with him. In interviews, Hamilton told me about his initial contacts with Zelikow.

  Chapter 8. J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building

  Much of this material comes from current and former FBI officials who are close to FBI Director Robert Mueller. The information about Mueller’s Vietnam war record and his Bronze Star citation comes from a profile of Mueller in VFW Magazine (October 2002); the article, “Vietnam Vet Tackles Terror as Head of FBI,” was written by reporter Tom Nugent. Coleen Rowley’s letter to Mueller was first published in its entirety on Time magazine’s website, www.time.com, on May 26, 2002. Former acting FBI director Thomas Pickard provided me with an extensive interview regarding his dealings with Ashcroft and the 9/11 commission.

  Chapter 9. Offices of the Select Committee on Intelligence

  Much of this material comes from interviews with former senator Bob Graham and from his 2004 book, Intelligence Matters. Much of the material about Senator Warren Rudman comes from an interview with Rudman. The full report by the joint House-Senate committee on pre-9/11 intelligence failures is available at the website of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: http://intelligence.senate.gov/107351.pdf.

  Chapter 10. Drew University

  Much of this material comes from interviews or e-mail exchanges with Kean, Hamilton, Gorton, and Zelikow, as well as from Kean and Hamilton’s Without Precedent. Zelikow’s article in Foreign Affairs (written with Ashton Carter and John Deutch) was published in the magazine’s November/December 2001 issue under the title “Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling the New Danger.” Zelikow’s book with Condoleezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft, was published in 1995 by Harvard University Press.

  Chapter 11. Offices of the National Security Council

  Much of this material comes from interviews with Clarke, Zelikow, Kean, and Card, as well as from Clarke’s 2004 book, Against All Enemies. Daniel Benjamin’s remarks about Dick Clarke’s relationship with colleagues on the staff of the National Security Council are drawn from Benjamin’s hugely informative 2002 book (written with Steven Simon), The Age of Sacred Terror.

  Chapter 12. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

  Much of this material comes from interviews with Kean, Hamilton, Ben-Veniste, and Cleland, as well as from Kean and Hamilton’s book, Without Precedent. Kirsten Lundberg’s 2005 history of the commission, “Piloting a Bipartisan Ship,” prepared for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, was invaluable in determining the timeline of the commission’s work.

  Chapter 13. Office of the Counsel to the President

  The description of Zelikow’s interactions with Gonzales comes from interviews with Zelikow, Kean, and various White House officials who agreed to be interviewed on promise of anonymity. The material on Zelikow’s meeting at the CIA comes from Mark Lowenthal and Winston Wiley, as well as from former senior aides to Tenet and other CIA officials who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity. The physical description of the grounds of CIA headquarters comes in part from material available on the CIA website, www.cia.gov.

  Chapter 14. U.S. Navy Command Center

  The description of Zelikow’s job interview with Kevin Shaeffer comes from interviews with Zelikow and other commission staff members, as well as a description of the scene from Kean and Hamilton’s Without Prejudice. Shaeffer has given several interviews to news organizations about how he survived the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and his long recovery from his injuries. Some of the more illuminating interviews were given to the Navy’s official news service (“9/11 Pentagon Survivor Addresses Ike Crew,” September 12, 2006, by reporter Nathaniel Moger), the Navy Times newspaper (“Crawling Toward the Light,” September 11, 2002, by reporter Bryant Jordan), and PBS NewsHour (“Recovering,” September 11, 2003, by reporter Susan Dentzer). Zelikow’s memo, dated March 2, 2003, and titled “What Do I Do Now?” was addressed to “All Incoming Staff.” Much of the material about the commissioners’ response to the structuring of the committee comes from interviews with Gorelick, Cleland, and Ben-Veniste. The description of Lorry Fenner’s hiring and her concerns about the NSA Archives comes from interviews with several staff members, including Lloyd Salvetti and Douglas MacEachin. Ellie Hartz’s comments about her late husband, John, are taken from an episode of the PBS program Frontline (“Sacred Ground,” September 7, 2004). Emily Walker’s comments come from interviews with her.

  Chapter 15. K Street Offices of the 9/11 Commission

  Much of this material is drawn from interviews with Zelikow, Kean, Hamilton, Gorelick, and Roemer. The material about Carol Elder Bruce’s awkward job interview was offered to me in interviews with Bruce, Kean, and lawyers who are friends of Bruce’s.

  Chapter 16. City Hall

  The confrontation between Zelikow and his team and Bloomberg’s aides is described in Without Precedent and was confirmed in interviews and e-mails with Zelikow and other members of the staff. The scene at the New York hearings, including the last-minute search for a gavel and the need to rent water pitchers, is detailed in Without Precedent. I credit Ben Rhodes, who organized and wrote much of the book with Kean and Hamilton, with an eye for a good detail. The reaction of the families of the 9/11 victims was explained to me in interviews with Lorie Van Auken and others.

  Chapter 17. K Street Offices of the 9/11 Commission

  The material on Karen Heitkotter and Dana Lesemann was provided to me by several staff members who are familiar with their accounts. Zelikow and Daniel Marcus, the commission’s general counsel, confirmed the information about Lesemann and the purported security breach.

  Chapter 18. K Street Offices of the 9/11 Commission

  The material in this chapter is drawn from interviews with Gorton, Ben-Veniste, and John Farmer, the team leader who oversaw the commission’s investigation of the crisis in the skies on the morning of 9/11. Excerpts of the testimony from former transportation secretary Norman Mineta, the FAA’s Cathal Flynn, and retired Air Force major general Larry K. Arnold are drawn from transcripts of the commission’s hearings.

  Chapter 19. Office of the Counsel to the President

  The description of the commission’s dealings with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales is drawn from interviews with Kean, Hamilton, and Marcus, as well as with current and former administration lawyers who worked with Gonzales. The material about Cleland is drawn from interviews with Cleland and several of the other commissioners.

  Chapter 20. K Street Offices of the 9/11 Commission

  The National Security Strategy of the United States, the September 2002 document that was written mostly by Zelikow, is available at the White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf. Zelikow’s comments about Iraq were quoted by the Associated Press on June 14, 2002, in an article titled “Bush Lays Foundation for Potential Attack on Iraq,” by reporter Ron Fournier. In their book Hubris, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek and David Corn of The Nation offer the best published profile anywhere of Laurie Mylroie, the influential American Enterprise Institute scholar. Zelikow confirmed in interviews that he had invited Mylroie to appear before the commission and described his reasoning for the invitation. Mylroie’s book, The War Against America, was published in 2001 by ReganBooks. In an interview, Judith Yapfe of the National Defense University, described her appearance before the commission. In an interview, Lorie Van Auken described her encounter with Zelikow after Mylroie’s testimony.

  Chapter 21. Department of History

  Alexis Albion’s views on employment in the intelligence community were captured in a witty article, titled “Female Bonding,” for The Washington Post Book Review on January 16, 2005. The description of Albion’s role on the commission was provided in an interview with several commission staff members. The material about Rudy Rousseau’s work at the CIA was provided by Rousseau in an interview. The material about Tenet was provided in interviews with Rousseau; Tenet’s former chief of staff, John Moseman; and several othe
r former senior officials at the CIA.

  Chapter 22. Room 5026

  The descriptions of Warren Bass’s review of NSC documents and his interactions with Zelikow and Michael Hurley were provided in interviews with several members of the commission’s staff, including Marcus, the general counsel. The description of room 5026 in the New Executive Office Building was provided by staff members and commissioners who visited the reading room. David Kay’s harsh appraisal of Rice, first revealed publicly by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, was repeated to me and expanded upon in interviews with Kay. The description of Len Hawley’s hiring was provided in interviews with several commissioners and staff members. The description of Bass’s questioning for his security clearance was reported in a profile of Bass by the alumni magazine of his Canadian alma mater, the Queen’s University Alumni Review Magazine, in its November 2005 issue; the article, titled “Dr. Bass Goes to Washington,” was written by Geoff Smith.

  Chapter 23. Washington, D.C.

  Much of the detail on the terrorist warnings reaching the White House in the spring and summer of 2001 is drawn from the commission’s final report, especially from its extensive footnotes. Bush’s comments in an interview with Bob Woodward were first published by The Washington Post in an article by Woodward and Dan Balz (“Bush and His Advisers Set Objectives, but Struggled With How to Achieve Them”) on January 28, 2002. The material on Lorry Fenner and the NSA Archives was provided in interviews with several members of the commission’s staff, including Salvetti and MacEachin.