9/11 Commission Report/Notes

NOTES

For simplicity, we have adopted the following citation conventions in these endnotes.

Dozens of government agencies and other entities provided the Commission with more than 2.5 million pages of documents and other materials, including more than 1,000 hours of audiotapes. In general, we cite documents and other materials by providing the agency or entity of origin, the type of document (e.g., memo, email, report, or record), the author and recipient, the title (in quotes) or a description of the subject, and the date. We use the following abbreviations for the agencies and entities that produced the bulk of these documents: AAL-American Airlines; CIA-Central Intelligence Agency; DCI-Director of Central Intelligence; DHS-Department of Homeland Security; DOD-Department of Defense; DOJ-Department of Justice; DOS-Department of State; DOT-Department of Transportation; EPA-Environmental Protection Agency; FAA-Federal Aviation Administration; FBI-Federal Bureau of Investigation; FDNY-Fire Department of New York; GAO-General Accounting Office; INS-Immigration and Naturalization Service; NEADS-Northeast Air Defense Sector; NSA-National Security Agency; NSC-National Security Council; NTSB-National Transportation Safety Board; NYPD-New York Police Department; OEM-Office of Emergency Management, City of New York; PANYNJ or Port Authority-Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; PAPD-Port Authority Police Department; SEC-Securities and Exchange Commission; Treasury-Department of Treasury; TSA-Transportation Security Administration; UAL-United Air Lines; USSS-United States Secret Service.

Interviews, meetings, briefings, and site visits conducted by Commissioners or by members of the Commission staff are cited, for example, as "George Tenet interview (Jan. 22, 2004)." Testimony by witnesses at one of the Commission's 12 public hearings is cited as "Condoleezza Rice testimony, Apr. 8, 2004."Written statements for the record provided by witnesses at one of our public hearings are cited as "Thomas Ridge prepared statement, May 19, 2004."

At the request of intelligence community agencies (including the FBI), we use the first name and last initial, only the first name, or in a few instances an alias or title when referring to working-level employees in those agencies. At the request of several intelligence agencies, we cite most reports from the CIA and other intelligence agencies generically as "Intelligence report," followed by a description of the subject and date. In a few instances in which we were given access to highly sensitive documents or information, we cite generically to documents or information provided to the Commission.

Our investigation built on the work of many others, including the Joint Inquiry of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, which we refer to as the "Joint Inquiry." We cite as "Joint Inquiry report, Dec. 2002" the Report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 107-351,

H.R. Rep. No. 107-792, 107th Cong., 2d sess. (2002), indicating "classified version" where appropriate. Testimony presented during hearings conducted by the Joint Inquiry is cited as "Joint Inquiry testimony of George Tenet, Oct. 17, 2002," indicating "closed hearing" where appropriate. We cite interviews conducted by the Joint Inquiry staff as "Joint Inquiry interview of Cofer Black," with the date of the interview.

Another major source for our investigation were the thousands of interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation during its investigation of the 9/11 attacks, which it refers to as "Penttbom." FBI agents write up their interviews on forms called 302s, which we cite as "FBI report of investigation, interview of John Smith, Oct. 4, 2001," using the date of the interview. We cite interviews conducted by other agencies by agency name and date of the interview; for example, an interview conducted by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General is cited as "DOJ Inspector General interview of Mary Jones, July 9, 2002."

Contents

• "We Have Some Planes"
• The Foundation of the New Terrorism
• Counterterrorism Evolves
• Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults
• Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland
• From Threat to Threat
• The Attack Looms
• "The System Was Blinking Red"
• Heroism and Horror
• Wartime
• Foresight-and Hindsight
• What to Do? A Global Strategy
• How to Do It? A Different Way of Organizing the Government