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Minutes
of
the
July
31
2 3
Meeting
The
Chair called
the
Commission
to
order
at
9:04
AM on
July
31,
2003.
All
Commissioners were
in
attendance.
Minutes
The
minutes
of the
July
8,
2003 meeting were agreed
to,
after
the
incorporation
of
several minor
changes.
ess
to
White House Documents
The
Vice Chair summarized
the key
points
of an
agreement reached between
the
Commission
and the
White House regarding access
to
EOFand NSC
documents:
1
Commissioners
and key
staff
will have access
to
highly sensitive
NSC and
WhiteHouse documents. Individuals with access
may
share information with other colleagues
on
a
need
to
know basis. This agreement goes beyond
access
granted
to the
Joint
Inquiry
and Congress,
hi
rare
cases,
access
to
certain documents
may be
reserved
for
only
the
Chair
and
Vice Chair,
but the
Commission
can
then request wider access.
2
Commissioners
and
staff
who
take notes
may
bring them back
to the
Commission s
K
Street
office.
The
notes will
be
reviewed
for
proper classification
on the
spot,
or, in
some cases, within
1-2
business days. Portion marking will expedite
the
process. Highly
classified
material will
be
transported
via
approved courier channels.
3
Direct quotes
from
documents
are
permissible; however,
the
Commission will exerciserestraint
and
will
not
endeavor
to
recreate documents with verbatim notes.
The
presumption
is
that
the
Commission
will
not
quote directly
from
presidentialdeliberative documents. (Commissioner
Ben-Veniste
observed that
the
agreementallows
for
this issue
to be
subject
to
later discussion.)
4) The
Commission will
be
granted
access
to
circulated
drafts
on a
case-by-case
basis;
the
Commission will
not see
uncirculated
drafts.
5
The
Commission
is not
prohibited
from
taking notes
on
draft
documents.
6
The
agreement
further
recognizes
the
Commission s need
for
access
to
this material
in
order
to
complete
its
work.
The
Vice Chair noted that Judge
Gonzales
emphasized,again
and
again, conciliation.
He
noted that Judge Gonzales
is
committed
to
workingwith
the
Chair, Vice Chair,
and
staff
on any
problems that
may
arise.
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SENSITIVECommissioner Ben-Veniste asked how the Commission is handling the review ofredactions in
EOF
documents. The Executive Director stated that he, the Chair, Vice Chair,
and
General Counsel were allowed to review redactions,
and-aekteothat
he had reviewed all
of
the redactions to date. The Executive Director observed that the body of redactions was
not
controversial, but that he had made a request to the White House—in writing—toreconsider four^edactions.
Three
of the
four
redactions obscured the policy context of adecision,
and
1
fourth
dealt with covert action. Commissioner Roemer agreed that such arequest
shoum
be made in writing. Commissioner Ben-Veniste suggested that it would be
helpful
to
have annotations next
to
redactions stating
the
subject
matter
of, and
rationale
for
each redaction.Commissioner Ben-Veniste inquired if any documents had been limited to review by theChair and Vice Chair. The General Counsel Ban Marettsresponded that, to date, thecontinuity of government information was the only such
information
limited to review bythe Chair and Vice Chair, but
addea
that the Commission already knew about thisexception.Commissioner Fielding described the agreement as a phenomenal breakthrough.Commissioner Roemer concurred that the agreement brought the Commission into
uncharted
territory and had broken new ground. While
access
isn't
completely there, headded, the agreement established ground rules for access to material that the Joint Inquiry
did
not get. The Vice Chair added that everything will depend upon implementation of theagreement. There will be bumps in the road, but the Judge has committed to workingthrough them.Commissioner Roemer expressed his concern that the NSC documents
frequently
recordannouncements
of meetingsJbujfno
documentation appears in connection with thosemeetings in terms of minutes or
follow-up.
The Executive Director noted that suchdocuments may not actually exist, but for
cases
in which they do, they are encompassed bythe recently-submitted
EOF
Document Request No. 3. He noted
further
that this
will
be a
key
question of access for the Commission,Commissioner Roemer then asked if the Commission would gain
access
to the pre-9/11 draft of NSPD-9. He observed that a document is not a
draft
if it has been circulatedthrough everyone and given to the President. The Executive Director agreed with thisassessment. The General Counsel stated that NSPD-9 was the Commission's first request to
view
a circulated
draft
which, according to the agreement, can be done on a case-by-casebasis. Commissioner Gorelick expressed her belief that it should be an easy
case.
The
Executive
Director stated that Judge Gonzales had yet to make a decision, and that theChair and Vice Chair would follow-up.Commissioner Gorelick inquired as to whether the White House documents could bearranged in chronological order. She added that the Commission ought to compile anintegrated timeline of events on
9/11
reconciling various times and time zones involved in
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OMMISSION
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She
went
on to
observe that there
was
deep
confusion
in the
publicbetween
the
Commission
and the
Joint Inquiry.Senator
Cleland
inquired
as to
whether
the
Commission would have access
to the
same
information
as Bob
Woodward did.
The
Executive Director explained that
the
Commission
would
have much greater
access.
Moussaoui Agreement
Commissioner
Ben-Veniste
inquired about
the
impact
on theCommission s
Moussaoui agreement
if the
criminal trial
is not
completed
by the
publication date, or furthermore, if the case is dismissed altogether and moved to a militarytribunal.
The
General Counsel stated that they
had not
discussed
the
latter point,
but
that
the
understanding
was, based
on
language
in the letter,
that
the
agreement only applied
to the
court trial.
Declassification
Based
on his
experience with
the declassification of the
Joint Inquiryreport, Commissioner Roemer asked
how the
Commission
was
going
to
write
and
publicize
an
unclassified report
if the
source material
for the
report itself
is
classified. CommissionerBen-Veniste inquired
as to
what mechanism
the
Commission would have
in
place
if
there
are
objections
to the
report s
declassification. He also asked
what,
if
anything,
the
Commission could learn
from
the
Joint Inquiry declassification process.
The
ExecutiveDirector responded
by
stating that
the
Commission intends
to
write
an
unclassified report
and
submit
it to
pre-publication
review.
He
added that
it is a
more favorable position
for the
Commission
to
assert that
the
report
is
unclassified, than
to
write
a
classified report
and
force
the
Commission through
the
•traditiortaideclassification
process.
The
General Counsel suggested that
the
Commission build
in a
couple
of
months
to
allow
for
the
declassification process. Commissioner Gorton stated that
the
Commission should
use all of the
time
it has to
write
the
report. Commissioner Gorelick expressed concern thatthere
was no
time
to
build
in a
couple
of
months before
the May
2004 deadline,
and
asked
if the
statute would allow
for
declassification
in the two
months beyond
the
deadline.
The
General Counsel said that
the
statute would probably accommodate this.
The
Chair concurred that
the
Commission s report should
be
written
so
that
it is
automatically released
to the
public.
The
Vice Chair noted that
it
will take
a lot of
work
on
the
part
of the
staff
to
limit
the
points
of
difference
before
the
report goes
to the
WhiteHouse
for
review.
He
added that
he and the
Chair would
try to get an
agreement
from the
White House
to act
very quickly. Commissioners Gorelick
and
Fielding concurred that
the
White House would want
the
report
to be
released
as
soon
as
possible.
F I
Access.
The
Vice Chair announced that
the
Commission
had
received
the FBI
timeline
and
was
granted access
to the
PENTTBOM s digital
files at FBI
Headquarters.
The
Executive Director
and
General Counsel added that electronic access
to the
PENTTBOM
file
enables
the
staff
to
search
it on
site,
and
obviates
the
need
for
further
documentrequests
as to
this material.
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