Thomas H.

Kean
CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton
March 30, 2004
VICE CHAIR

Richard Ben-Veniste
The Honorable Alberto R. Gonzales
Fred F. Fielding Counsel to the President
The White House
Jamie S. Gorelick Washington, DC 20500
Slade Gorton
Dear Judge Gonzales:
Bob Kerrey

John F. Lehman
On behalf of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States, we are writing in response to your letter of March 30. The Commission
Timothy J. Roemer welcomes and appreciates the President's decisions, set forth in your letter, to
accept our requests (a) for public testimony, under oath, by the National
James R. Thompson
Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice; and (b) for a private meeting
between all ten Commissioners and the President and Vice President.
Philip D. Zelikow
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Commission accepts the conditions set forth in your letter. We will not
seek public testimony from White House officials other than Dr. Rice,
although we will continue with plans for private meetings with a number of
such officials.

We also have long shared the views expressed in your letter about the unique
status and mission of the Commission. While by statute the Commission is
"established in the legislative branch," the Commission is not a legislative
body. Our Chairman is appointed by the President, and we are required to
submit our report to the President as well as the Congress. In short, the
Commission is a hybrid body with a limited life and a unique investigative
and historical mission. Accordingly, Dr. Rice's public testimony before the
Commission will not be cited by us as a precedent, and it should not be
considered a precedent for testimony by national security advisors or other
White House officials before the Congress or other entities in the legislative
branch.

301 7th Street SW, Room 5125 26 Federal Plaza

Washington, DC 20407 Suite 13-100
T 202.331.4060 F 202.296.5545 New York, NY 10278
www.9-llcommtssion.gov T 212.264.1505 F 212.264-1595
The Honorable Alberto R. Gonazales
March 30, 2004
Page 2

We look forward to hearing from Dr. Rice in public at a forthcoming Commission

hearing and to a meeting between the Commissioners and the President and Vice
President. We will be in touch with you to establish mutually agreeable dates for Dr.
Rice's testimony and the meeting with the President and Vice President. We appreciate
your cooperation in this matter, and we will continue to seek to work constructively with
you and your staff in the remaining months of the Commission's life.

With best regards,

Thomas H. Kean Lee H. Hamilton

Chair Vice Chair
 THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

March 30, 2004

Thomas H. Kean, Chairman

Lee H. Hamilton, Vice Chairman
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
2100 K St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20037

Dear Chairman Kean and Vice Chairman Hamilton:

As we discussed last night, the President is prepared, subject to the conditions set forth
below, to agree to the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States for public testimony, under oath, by the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, Dr. Condoleezza Rice.

The President has consistently stated a policy of strong support for the Commission and
instructed the Executive Branch to provide unprecedented and extraordinary access to the
Commission. To my knowledge, the Executive Branch has provided access to documents or
information in response to each of the requests issued by the Commission to date, including
many highly classified and extremely sensitive documents that have seldom, if ever, been made
available outside the Executive Branch.

As an additional accommodation, the Executive Office of the President has made

available more than 20 EOP officials, including the National Security Advisor, for private
meetings with the Commission. As you know, based on principles underlying the Constitutional
separation of powers, Presidents of both parties have long taken the position that White House
advisors and staff are not subject to the jurisdiction of legislative bodies and do not provide
testimony - even on a voluntary basis - on policy matters discussed within the White House or
advice given to the President. Indeed, I am not aware of any instance of a sitting National
Security Advisor testifying in public to a legislative body (such as the Commission) concerning
policy matters.

We continue to believe, as I advised you by letter dated March 25,2004, that the
principles underlying the Constitutional separation of powers counsel strongly against such
public testimony, and that Dr. Rice's testimony before the Commission can occur only with
recognition that the events of September 11,2001 present the most extraordinary and unique
circumstances, and with conditions and assurances designed to limit harm to the ability of future
Presidents to receive candid advice.

Nevertheless, the President recognizes the truly unique and extraordinary circumstances
underlying the Commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report on the facts and
circumstances of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001. Furthermore, we have now
received assurances from the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate that, in
their view, Dr. Rice's public testimony in connection with the extraordinary events of September
11, 2001 does not set, and should not be cited as, a precedent for future requests for a National
Security Advisor or any other White House official to testify before a legislative body. In light
of the unique nature of the Commission and these additional assurances, the President has
determined that, although he retains the legal authority to decline to make Dr. Rice available to
testify in public, he will agree, as a matter of comity and subject to the conditions set forth
below, to the Commission's request for Dr. Rice to testify publicly regarding matters within the
Commission's statutory mandate.

The necessary conditions are as follows. First, the Commission must agree in writing
that Dr. Rice's testimony before the Commission does not set any precedent for future
Commission requests, or requests in any other context, for testimony by a National Security
Advisor or any other White House official.

Second, the Commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public
testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice. The National Security Advisor is
uniquely situated to provide the Commission with information necessary to fulfill its statutory
mandate. Indeed, it is for this reason that Dr. Rice privately met with the Commission for more
than four hours on February 7, fully answered every question posed to her, and offered additional
private meetings as necessary. Despite the fact that the Commission will therefore have access
to all information of which Dr. Rice is aware, the Commission has nevertheless urged that public
confidence in the work of the Commission would be enhanced by Dr. Rice appearing publicly
before the Commission. Other White House officials with information relevant to the
Commission's inquiry do not come within the scope of the Commission's rationale for seeking
public testimony from Dr. Rice. These officials will continue to provide the Commission with
information through private meetings, briefings, and documents, consistent with our previous
practice.

I greatly appreciate the strong support you expressed to me last night for an agreement to
the conditions on which we are proposing this extraordinary accommodation and your
commitment to strongly advocate for the full support of the Commission. If the Commission
accepts the terms of this agreement, I hope that we can schedule a time as soon as possible for
such a public appearance by Dr. Rice. I want to reiterate once again, however, that Dr. Rice
would be made available to the Commission with due regard for the Constitutional separation of
powers and reserving all legal authorities, privileges, and objections that may apply, including
with respect to other governmental entities or private parties.

I would also like to take this occasion to offer an accommodation on another issue on
which we have not yet reached an agreement - Commission access to the President and Vice
President. I am authorized to advise you that the President and Vice President have agreed to
one joint private session with all 10 Commissioners, with one Commission staff member present
to take notes of the session.

I look forward to continuing to work with the Commission to help it obtain the
information it needs to fulfill its statutory mandate.

berto R. Gonz
Counsel to the President