National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

The Commission's mandate is to provide a “full and complete accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and recommendations as to how to prevent such attacks in the future.
Specifically, Section 604 of Public Law 107-306 requires the Commission to investigate "facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001," including those relating to intelligence agencies; law enforcement agencies; diplomacy; immigration, nonimmigrant visas, and border control; the flow of assets to terrorist organizations; commercial aviation; the role of congressional oversight and resource allocation; and other areas determined relevant by the Commission for its inquiry.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (known as the 9-11 Commission) was created by Public Law 107-306, signed by the President on November 27, 2002. P.L. 107-306 originally required the Commission to report to the President and Congress 18 months after enactment, or no later than May 27, 2004. Recently Congress passed and the President signed legislation which extends the reporting deadline by two months, to July 26, and the termination date by 30 days, to August 26. This additional time will allow the Commission to fulfill its mandate.

In response to the requirements under law, the Commission has organized work teams to address each of the following eight topics:

Al Qaeda and the Organization of the 9-11 Attack;
Intelligence Collection, Analysis, and Management (including oversight and resource allocation);
International Counterterrorism Policy, including states that harbor or harbored terrorists, or offer or offered terrorists safe havens;
Terrorist Financing;
Border Security and Foreign Visitors;
Law Enforcement and Intelligence Collection inside the United States;
Commercial Aviation and Transportation Security, including an Investigation into the Circumstances of the Four Hijackings;
The Immediate Response to the Attacks at the National, State, and Local levels, including issues of Continuity of Government.

The Commission has nearly 80 full-time employees, contractors, and detailees on staff. All the Commissioners and staff have received the security clearances they need to carry on the investigation.
The Commission has been highly successful in attracting the talents of an experienced, outstanding group of professionals, including a former Deputy Director of Intelligence, a former State Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, a professor of international history and foreign intelligence from Harvard, experts on cross-border money transfers, several former federal prosecutors, and several staff from the Congressional Joint Inquiry.

Public Law 107-306 provided for the reprogramming of $3 million for the Commission. Congress subsequently appropriated, and the President signed into law, an additional $11 million appropriation for the Commission. Recent legislation authorized an additional $1 million, bringing the Commission’s total budget to $15 million.
The Commission is confident that it can fulfill its mandate with this amount. We appreciate very much the support of Congress and the President for this level of funding.

As of March 15, 2004, we have interviewed more than 1000 individuals in ten countries. The Commission has also held ten days of public hearings to date, during which it received testimony from 110 federal, state, and local officials, and experts from the private sector.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have offered to meet privately with Chairman Kean and Vice Chairman Hamilton, but prefer not to meet with all 10 Commissioners. The Commission hopes the President and Vice President will reconsider.
The Commission plans to meet soon with President Clinton and Vice President Gore.

Cooperation is an ongoing process. The Commission needed cooperation to obtain documents and conduct interviews. Cooperation is especially important as the Commission proceeds to hearings with current and former high-level government officials, and seeks to release publicly information that had been classified. Cooperation will be necessary all the way through completion of the Commission’s final report.
At this point in its work, the Commission has had access to every document it asked to see—more than two million pages—including the most sensitive documents the government possesses. The President has yet to assert executive privilege on any document. The Commission also has interviewed every single official with whom we requested to meet, including national security advisers, cabinet secretaries, FBI directors, chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, and directors of central intelligence, past and present.

A four-person Review Team has seen every single PDB item for which the Commission requested access. The Team prepared a detailed report on all PDBs of critical importance to the Commission’s mandate. All Commissioners were briefed for over three hours on this 7,000-word report, joined with a supplement of complementary intelligence documents. The Commission was also given every word of the August 6, 2001, item on al Qaeda and the threat of attacks on the United States.

The Commission has issued three subpoenas of government agencies: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Defense, and the City of New York. In all three instances, the issues were resolved amicably, without litigation. The Commission received the access that was necessary to fulfill its mandate.

The Joint Inquiry made a significant contribution in explaining some failures of American intelligence. The Commission is required to pick up where the Joint Inquiry left off, and it is doing so. The Commission’s mandate goes well beyond matters of intelligence -- aviation safety, terrorist financing, the role of foreign governments, the response on the ground, congressional oversight, and so forth. The Commission will report facts and make recommendations in each of these areas, as well as in the area of intelligence.

Current News

The Commission has released its final report. [more]

The Chair and Vice Chair have released a statement regarding the Commission's closing. [more]

The Commission closed August 21, 2004. [more]