Major Subjects for Commission Recommendations

This paper offers a 'staff strawman' of major policy topics for Commission consideration.

The staff is developing a great many suggestions of interest to experts or people in

Washington.

But our task here has a different fqpus and audience in mind. We were asked to take a first
cut at suggesting the few topics where the Commission will try to shape—or reshape—the
national agenda. They should be the kind of topics that Commissioners will want to
discuss in any public forum of interested citizens.

1. Defining our National Strategy

1.1 What kind of conflict are we in? Against what enemy? Is 'war on
terrorism' the right label? Or is the enemy 'violent Islamist extremism?'
Should the war be recast as a struggle for the future of the Muslim world?

1.2 Do we have the right balance in our national strategy to conduct such a
struggle?

1.3 Have we defined attainable operational objectives for our own and allied
governments? All terrorism? Catastrophic terrorism? Can we
meaningfully define success, and how long will success take?

1.4 How or where do we convert our national strategy into a coalition strategy?

1.5 How should the U.S. government organize the leadership or coordination of
its national strategy?

2. Bringing Foreign Policy Back In

2.1 Can or should America have an overarching strategy to influence the future
of the Muslim world? Compared to current policy, what would be the
elements of such a strategy?

2.11 Public diplomacy. Is the problem the selling of the message or the
message we are trying to sell?

2.2 How should policy be adjusted in particular areas where Islamic terrorism
once flourished?

2.21 Afghanistan?
 2.22 Pakistan?
2.23 Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states?
2.24 Indonesia and Malaysia?
2.25 Horn of Africa and East Africa?

2.3 Does the prevention of terrorism require new policies toward:

2.31 Middle East peace process

2.32 Iraq
2.33 Iran ... Hizballah
2.34 Egypt

2.4 Transforming multilateral institutions

2.41 Multilateral efforts for new norms in identification

2.42 Multilateral efforts for new norms in tracking terrorist finance
2.43 Multilateral efforts for new norms in border and transportation
security
2.44 Challenges for the United Nations, G-8, and NATO

3. Intelligence for Transnational Challenges

3.1 Bridging the foreign-domestic divide. Have we done it? How do we do it?

3.11 Relative roles of CIA, TTIC, DOJ/FBI, DHS, DOD, and other
federal, state, regional, and local authorities
3.12 In that context, what is the appropriate organization of intelligence
activities inside the United States? The future role of the FBI?
3.13 Coordination of intelligence activities and analysis with foreign
governments

3.2 Do we have sufficient unity of effort and strategic drive?

3.21 Are resources being appropriately directed?

3.22 Is analysis and warning adequately integrated, sifted, and
communicated to senior policymakers?
3.23 Is work on terrorist travel or terrorist finance adequately integrated
into the national effort?

4. Protecting security and preserving liberty

4.1 Do the intelligence agencies have the right balance of empowerment and
restraint?
 4.11 What, if any, expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act should be
renewed or enlarged?

4.2 How do we harness and confine the power of the information age?

4.21 How should the federal government address its information sharing
dilemmas and build the right information relationships with state,
local, and private actors?
4.22 How should these evolving institutions effectively utilize yet
regulate tools for research and analysis of information about
individuals?

4.3 How should the United States address the problem of secure and reliable
personal identification, including for international travel?

5. National Defense

5.1 Are we creating the right institutions for offensive counterterrorism? Sizing
and transformation of the armed forces.

5.11 Future of SOCOM

5.2 Homeland defense. The role of NORTHCOM.

5.21 Air and border defense

5.22 Consequence management
5.23 Intelligence efforts

6. Living with a World of Risk

6.1 Do we have a sensible system for assessing vulnerabilities and judging

risks?

6.2 Have our aviation and other transportation security systems adapted
adequately to new dangers?

6.3 Is the nation adequately preparing to mitigate and manage the potential
consequences of a catastrophic terrorist attack?

6.4 Has the government adequately integrated private sector opportunities,

vulnerabilities, or costs into its strategies for homeland security?

6.5 Do we need a concerted policy of national education about living with new
risks? Adjust the way we handle warning?
7. Changing Congress, Too

7.1 Does the Congress provide adequate, independent oversight of national

policy in the current conflict?

7.2 Separation of powers and separation of management: what are the

responsibilities of Congress?

7.21 Is Congress allocating sufficient resources in a manageable way?

7.22 Has Congress adequately aligned executive accountability
with congressional direction?

8. Treatment of Suspected Terrorists

8.1 What should be done with captured terrorist suspects who fall outside the
ordinary jurisdiction of national criminal justice?

8.2 What justice should be accorded to captured participants in the 9/11 plot?

8.3 Should the United States seek to convert its national system of terrorist
justice into a coalition system?