fo b6 public hearing 6-16-04 1 of 2 fdr- tab 3 table of contents and tab 3-1 entire contents-...

8/14/2019 FO B6 Public Hearing 6-16-04 1 of 2 Fdr- Tab 3 Table of Contents and Tab 3-1 Entire Contents- Suggested Questio

1/5

THE 9/11 PLOTPANEL: AL QAEDA

MS. DEBORAH DORANSpecial AgentFederal Bureau of Investigation

THE HONORA BLE PATRICK J. FITZGERALDU.S. Attorney for the Northern District of IllinoisDR. K.Chief of the Strategic Terrorism Assessments andAlternative Analysis Group, Counterterrorist Center (CTC)Central Intelligence Agency

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, June16Designated Com missioners: James Thompson and Bob Kerrey

Enclosures1 - Suggested Questions for thePanel2 - Prepared Statements3 - Biographies4 - Invitation Letters


2/5

SUGGESTEDQUESTIONSFORTHE ALQAEDA PANELDesignated Commissioners: Kerrey an d Thompson

General1. What are the three or four most important things the nation needs to know about al Qaeda?Does al Qaeda still seek to conduct mass casualty attacks against the United States? What doesal Qaeda hope to achieve through terrorism?2. Understanding how al Qaeda currently operates will inform counterterrorism policyrecommendations. Al Qaeda is no longer a centralized orga nization headquartered inAfghanistan. It is a loose collection of regional networks. As a result, the US G cannot com batth e threat from al Qaeda by focusing exclusively on killing or capturing ke y leaders.

How is al Qaeda different from the way it was pre-9/11? Who are the key al Qaedaleaders today? What are the implications of these changes in al Qaeda for the UnitedStates?

3. Director Tenet ha s said that al Qaeda is determined to attack th e United States usingchem ical, biological, radioactive, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. He noted a particularly highrisk of poison, anthrax, chemical attacks using common materials, and attacks usingradiological dispersal devices. Howdoes al Qaeda recruit, vet, and train operatives now? Is this the same or differentthan it was before 9/11?

4. What is the status of al Qaeda's efforts to obtain CBRN weapons?5. What do we know about al Qaeda's presence in the U.S.? Are there cells andoperativespresent?6. What attacks have we prevented?7. Why haven't we been hit again since 9/11?8. What is Bin Ladin's current role within al Qaeda? Is he a symbolic and inspirational force?Is he an operational force?


3/5

Terrorist Attacks1. Do you agree with our staff statement as to al Qaeda's role hi the following attacks:

1993 World Trade Center bombing Black Hawk Down Bojinka OPM-SANG Khobar Towers Millennium Plots

2. What precautions did al Qaeda take to prevent us from learning about attacks before they werecarried out? How good was their operational security?

Infrastructure1. What is/was al Qaeda's command and control structure? How much has it been damaged by theUnited States and international action since 9/11? How has the organization coped with the damageto command and control since 9/11?2. Al Qaeda camps primarily provided military training, not terrorist training. Terrorist operativessuch as the 9/11 hijackers took specialized courses which were not available within the standardcamp structure.

How significant is the loss of the Afghan training camps for the conduct of terroristoperations? How is al Qaeda currently conducting training? Do terrorists still have a place totram?

3. Estimates of trainees in the Afghan camps range from 10,000 to 100,000. Howmany people went through bin Ladin's training camps prior to 9/11? What ability do we

have to track these recruits? Do we know where they went and their current status?

Popular Support1. A survey recently cited in the Washington Post claimed that 49% of Saudi citizens have afavorable opinion of Bin Ladin's sermons and rhetoric, although less than 5% would support hisbecoming "President of the Arabian Peninsula."

Howmuch support does Bin Ladin/al Qaeda have in the Muslim world? Is his supportincreasing or decreasing? What is the source of his appeal?


4/5

Relationships with StatesIran1. Several sources, as w ell as Dep uty Secretary of State Richard Armitage, have stated that Iran hasprovided safe passage to al Qaeda operatives and senior officials. Doc uments retrieved from possibleal Qaeda safehouses refer to a "safepassage" arrangement, although the docume nts also indicate thearrangement was no longer in orce after 9/11.

Did Iran provide safe passage for al Qaeda operatives traveling to and from Afghanistan?2. Press reporting indicates that Iran has a number of senior al Qaeda officials under "house arrest,"although the Iranian governmen t has n ot provided the U .S. with their identities (Newsw eek hasreported that Saifal-Adel, head ofal Qaeda's Military Committee, and SaadBin Ladin are amongthem).

Are there al Qaeda members in Iran now? If so, are there any Iranian-imposed limits on theiractions?3. Other than the training in the early 90s described in the staff statement, are you aware of anyadditional ties between al Qaeda and Hezbollah?Saudi Arabia1. Team 4 has found no evidence to indicate that the Saudi government or senior officials within theSaudi government directly funded al Qaeda. Our staff statement indicates that "some governments "ma y have turned a blind eye to al Qaeda fundraising, and that al Qaeda found fertile fundraisingground in Saudi Arabia.

Did the Saudi government or any members of the Royal Family provide al Qaeda withoperational support or direct funding? How confident are you in that judgment?

2. From its start, Saudi and Yemen i nationals seem to have found Al Qaeda's message especiallycompelling. At least before 9/11, they apparently formed the bulk of its members. What is your sense ofal Qaeda's ethnic composition prior to 9/11? Did anyparticular

nationalities predominate? If so, why do you think that was the case?

Pakistan1. W e have ound that ISID was the main distributor of Pakistani government support to the Taliban.Given the close ties between the Taliban and al Qaeda, ISID support to al Qaeda is possible but so farunproven. Support by individual ISID and former ISID personnel seems much more likely. In the wakeof 9/11, the Pakistani government broke o f f its support for the Taliban. This suggests that whateverISID- al Qaeda relationship may have existed also ended. How ever, there are indications that someindividual ISID personnel may have assisted al Qaeda members to flee Afghanistan.


5/5

What was the relationship between Pakistan's Liter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID)and al Qaeda, if any, prior to 9/11? How did it change post-9/11?

Iraq1. Did the Iraqi regime ever consider offering Bin Ladin safe haven?2. The reporting on Iraqi ties to Bin Ladin is generally u nreliable, sparse, and contradictory. Anumber of recent analytic documents (like the Feith mem o) have argued that a relationship did existbetween the two. According to what the staff has seen, th e best that can be said is that an yrelationship betw een al Qaeda and Iraq extended no arther than "sporadic, low-level contacts," andeven that is hard to pin down .

Prior to 9/11, was there operational support or cooperation between Bin Ladin and SaddamHussein? What was the nature of this relationship, and how extensive was it? How confidentare you of the evidence? Did this change after 9/11?

Myths and Misconceptions1. Did the CIA fund Bin Ladin during the Soviet War in Afghanistan? How did U.S. assistance flowto the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan? Did we work exclusively through the Pakistanis? Did theUSG have any relationship with the "Afghan Arabs?"2. Conflict diamon ds a re mined in war zones and sold covertly to support w arlords or rebel grou ps.Many conflict diamonds come from Sierra Leone, Angola, or Liberia and were used to finance therebel causes in those countries. Several sources claim al Qaeda used these diamonds to fundterrorist efforts, although we have ound this to be unsubstantiated.

Does al Qaeda use drug money or conflict diamonds to fund its operations? What is our bestevidence? How is it that the Taliban used drug money to finance itself but Bin Ladin did not?

fo b6 public hearing 6-16-04 1 of 2 fdr- tab 3 table of contents and tab 3-1 entire contents-...

Documents