Read Part I
Time: August 8th, 2001 0730
Location: Situation Room, The White House
Washington DC.
Chief, Counter-Terrorism: Good morning, good morning, good morning. I hope everyone likes the coffee because we are going to be drinking alot of it. Please take a look at the memo we are handing to the President this morning at 10 AM. If anyone has any corrections speak now, or forever hold your piece.
FBI: Excuse me...
CTC: You're (glances down at notes), the new Special Agent in charge of the bin Laden investigation.
FBI: Since this morning. All I have is a list of investigations and agents. They haven't even given me the list of memos to go through yet.
CTC: You'll find that I am extremely forgiving about people getting up to speed. I give them a generous 24 hours of leniency on it.
FBI: To be frank, there are some field/office issues here. And it is going to take some time to sort them out.
CTC: I'll let you explain that to the President. But we have a meeting to get going here. Everyone got the memo yesterday.
Assistant Attorney General for Counter-Terrorism: Counting 11:58 as yesterday.
CTC: What was that?
AAGCT: I've replied with 15 points from the Attorney General.
CTC: I read it this morning sent back my thoughts, I trust you have an updated memo with you?
AAGCT(quickly checking notes): The Attorney General wants to have review on this before it is sent to the Executive, sir.
CTC: He'll have 30 minutes to peruse it at his leisure before the 10AM. There's only one train out of this station every day, and I intend to be on this one.
AAGCT: The Attorney General feels that his office would be the best to coordinate this operation from.
CTC: I'll let you tell that to the President.
AAGCT: I'm only acting under orders.
CTC: So am I. My orders are to get 70 investigations into one file folder so that NSA can get the picture without having to turn a page and risk a paper cut.
AAGCT: That's an extremely negative characterization of NSA sir.
CTC: Be that as it may, NSA has made it very clear that nothing that isn't signature ready gets looked at.
AAGCT: Understood.
(Chubby man chugs in)
CTC: And speaking of the National Security Advisor, here is the Counter-Terrorism expert from over there. Glad you could join us.
NSC: Sorry, traffic was brutal this morning.
CTC: Try sleeping at the office - it helps conserve gasoline too.
NSC: Do we have something that's ready for NSA actionability?
CTC: Slowdown a bit. We've got a memo here from the Counsel to the President with an approach I would like everyone to look at. On page 14 of my short memo that was drafted this morning.
(Flipping of pages and mouse clicks)
You will find the suggestion that we make this a single federal investigation under an independent counsel.
FBI: FBI feels that it should be taking the investigatory lead.
CTC: Which would be all well and good, but as I note on pate 19, since much of the important evidence is from the Cole bombing and the Embassy bombings - which are not FBI led - we need to have a single clearing house outside of anyone's jurisdiction for this.
FBI: The director registers his strong reservations on this.
CTC: I'll talk to him later. We also have an analyst from CIA, here this morning, who is going to talk about the problems in coordinating. I will turn the floor over to him.
CIA: As you may know there are long standing problems in communicating between the CIA and FBI. Some of them are cultural, and others are based on legal impediments. DCI has asked legal counsel over there to present options on getting both CIA and FBI onto Intellnet, and to find a means for the two organizations to share information, prior to statutory revisions that would make formal information sharing possible.
AAGCT: As you probably know we have a bill bottled up in committee that...
CTC: It's already in the memo as a legislative action item.
CIA: May I go on?
CTC: Yes but be brief.
CIA: The gist of the plan is that we empanel a Federal Grand Jury, and allow a judge to sift through the information. According to US v Nixon, there is very little that can't be sub peonased to be reviewed in camera.
AAGCT: And the grand jury would be a license to print warrants.
CTC: Correct. That's point one. Point two I will give over to Transportation Department's security guy, who has been kind enough to draft something on the Federal Marshall program being reactivated.
Transportation Security Chief: My four point plan is this: we tighten the carry regulations for air craft to include all blades and pointed objects, we move some federal marshals currently on internal drug interdiction to being sky marshals, and we rattle the cage of the baggage screeners and handlers by doing an "Immigration Check". This in addition to moving the FAA to highest state of alert.
CTC: Which means what?
TSC: Primarily it would mean that we would have jets always scrambled to respond to a highjacking, it would mean that we would activate the no fly list, and it would mean that passenger craft would travel with the "seat belts on" all the time. We are working on drafting some language that would say that there is a heightened state of security alert and to report all suspicious behavior.
CTC: Sounds like lifting a crate with wet noodles. Can we do any better?
TSC: This is the best I can do without some sort of higher authorization. But I will point out that there is precedent for search warrants to cover limited times and places.
CTC: Generally those are drug cases.
AAGCT: We could get a sealed indictment accusing bin Laden of being a drug kingpin.
CTC: Which would mean.
AAGCT: Under the 1999 Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, the President can designate an individual as a "suspected Drug Smuggler", the Treasury can freeze his assets, and all US firms and citizens are forbidden from doing business.
CTC: I've got no evidence that bin Laden smuggles drugs, quite the contrary.
AAGCT: (Shrugs) Let him sue in court.
CTC: Have you had a chance to look at my suggestion that we launch a RICO investigation?
AAGCT: Yes, that is what made me think getting him Fonked.
FBI: I have to concur, we should use the drug laws and RICO to get at this guy and his organization.
CTC: Can you get us enough to get a sealed indictment.
FBI: I think there was enough meat in the file to make a few ham sandwiches, yes. But I still need some help cutting through some infighting at FBI. I know I should not be saying this, but the department is right now riven with an infight between the criminal and domestic counter-terrorism sections. It is getting difficult to shake the tree and get the information required.
CTC: I'm aware of the problems, I think we are going to have to raise this at the Principals meeting. We haven't had one on terrorism, and I think we can co-opt the meeting of the 9th. I want everyone here to have their points in by this evening so I can draft an agenda.
AAGCT: So you are going to take the suggestion we Fonk him as part of the run up.
CTC: You realize that would move this from your desk over to Narcotics enforcement at Justice.
AAGCT: In a manner of speaking, they would be responsible for finding all of bin Laden's US money contacts and freezing them.
CTC: Leaving you free to (peers over glasses to check fine print) begin the prosecution under the RICO statute.
AAGCT: My office would do that yes.
CTC: And with that addition you feel that Justice would sign off.
AAGCT: I believe the Attorney General would.
CTC: FBI, are you comfortable feeding Justice what then need here?
FBI: Subject to getting some help moving things, yes.
CTC: And what's the problem.
FBI: As mentioned, infighting here at the office, and a field/office pissing contest over a series of memos that were sent in over the last month and are currently sitting in some special agent in charge's slush pile.
CTC: Do you have a name?
FBI: I'm not sure I should...
CTC: Do you have a name?
FBI: Yes sir.
CTC: Good. I'm going to pay this, I assume it is a he, gentleman a visit later on.
FBI: That's going to ruffle some feathers sir.
CTC: Then a few more people are going to learn not to pet my fur the wrong way. The President said this was going to be one investigation, and that's what is going to happen. Or haven't you realized what this is all about.
CIA: I assumed that...
CTC: It's about one thing. We had CIA draft the PDB to get the President's attention. He escalated it. Our job now is to get his attention again and get it escalated again. Because until the President cares about it, nobody cares about it.
FBI: That's pretty cynical.
AAGCT: No, it is about right. Everybody manages up, and hopes that down takes care of itself.
CTC: Exactly. Now I'd like to call everyone's attention to the series of bullet points on page 24, where we recommend that some response to the Cole be undertaken.
CIA: Does State know about this?
CTC: State's been informed that we are considering options on securing compliance from the present government of Afghanistan on this matter.
CIA: Begging your pardon, but the Cole was in Yemen, and bin Laden is a Saudi.
FBI: And Saudi Arabia isn't cooperative on this.
CIA: Still, don't you think we should go shake the bin Laden family tree a bit? A few of them are here in the US.
CTC: I will see what I can do. Back to the bullet points...
- - -
Time: 8 August 2001 0925AM
Location: Small room near the Oval Office, The White House
Washington DC.
DCI (Flipping through memo): It's too much.
CTC: I chopped it down as much as I could.
DCI: It's too much. NSA will never sign off on it.
CTC: You have a better suggestion?
DCI: CIA is willing to take this one on.
CTC: You know the President won't authorize that.
DCI: But this plan is all over. Treasury knows, there is a prosecutor, FBI knows, Justice knows.
CTC: What do you suggest?
DCI: The problem here is that it is being treated as Domestic Law Enforcement.
CTC: And you are saying that we should move this to being a National Security matter?
DCI: It already is. We can put this under response to the Cole bombing, and then we don't have to reveal anything to anyone.
CTC: You know I think you are usually right. But I think that only the direct attacks on bin Laden are National Security Related. Look everyone and his cousin wants to own this. We've got to give everyone a piece of turkey.
DCI: That's fine, but who gets to carve?
CTC: I think you know that that belongs to the man at the head of the table.
DCI: He likes to serve it up, but he wants other people to handle the cutlery.
CTC: NSA will sit on it like a hen on an egg. How long did the 25 January memo sit?
DCI: Defense can't it is against the rules. FBI won't, because they all want to cowboy. Justice is busy acting like this is a Miami Vice episode. You know the lay of the land.
CTC: I think we can hold it together once the process is going. Give everyone a stake in the outcome, and everyone will go after their piece hard. Keeping it high profile will mean that everyone will play in the same sandbox.
DCI: I'm not sure on the approach. You are sticking your neck way out.
CTC: Not the first time.
DCI: And you have the 360 degree stitches to prove it. Now let's get to the 10 AM.
- - -
Time: 8 August 2001 10:37
Location: Oval Office, The White House
Washington DC.
President: Which brings us to the Terrorism Item.
CTC: If I may?
President: You've got the ball.
CTC: As you may know bin Laden is a renegade Saudi who fought the Soviets during the occupation of Afghanistan, he's connected with the wealthy bin Laden oil family, but has become a leader in the world of Islamic extremism.
President: So let me get this straight, we are having problems with a church going, mosque going anyway, gun toting, commie hating fundamentalist whose family is in the oyl bidness? Why, that sounds like half my contributors.
CTC: He's got his own private army.
President: So did my good friend H Ross Pea-rot. What does he want?
CTC: He says he wants the US out of holy Saudi Arabia.
President: As soon as the oil is out of there, we will be too. So let me get this straight, he's in Afghanistan, and the government won't just hand him over?
CTC: Yes, Mr. President.
President: Didn't we just give them a bunch of money?
State: Yes Mr. President, to encourage their drug interdiction efforts.
President: Say again?
State: So that they would not grow poppies.
President: And they still won't play ball? I knew paying people not to plant was a stupid idea. Who thought of it first anyway? Oh that's right, a Democrat. Look, you get to these people and tell them that we want this boy in our hands.
DoD: It's not quite that simple, Mr. President. He has training camps. We are going to need to go in there and rectify the regime.
President: You mean replace.
DoD: Yes Sir.
President: I thought we didn't do nation building.
DoD: Well Mr. President, that is the context that we are operating in.
President: You people are talking offense. Where I come from there are two sports, football and spring football. And the first thing you talk about is defense. That's your job title isn't it? Secretary of Defense? How are we going to make sure these people can't hit us again?
DoD: We could engage some strikes on their territory as retaliation for the Cole bombing.
President: Now that is beginning to sound like more fun. Sow a little chaos and confusion.
NSA: Begging your pardon, sir, but you said during the campaign that you weren't going to waste a million dollar missile on a camel in a tent.
President: You have a better idea?
NSA: No sir, I just...
President: First thing you learn in Washington. Make sure you have the bullet points before you shoot your mouth off. I still haven't see this famous January 25th Memo from your office.
NSA: The review will be completed this afternoon. We have concerns as to this putting us off of our schedule for the larger context shift.
President: I'm only interested in throwing Mr. Bin Laden off of his schedule. Now get to work on that package of options for me.
NSA: Yes Mr. President.
President: So what do you have for crimping Mr. Bin Laden's style?
CTC: Justice had the novel suggestion of invoking the Drug Kingpin Designation.
President: Is this boy a drug dealer? I mean, he has to be smoking something if the thinks he can attack the US and get away with it.
State: Unfortunately there isn't an equivalent designation for individuals for terrorism. But the Coordinator for Counter Terrorism at State has suggested we threaten to add Afghanistan to the list that was last updated on April 30th. We could get some leverage with that.
President: Once we have our selves in place here. I don't want bin Laden going off half-cocked if he thinks we are on to him. Now about hijackings.
CTC: We have an Transportation-Justice plan to beef up security on airlines. It requires authorization from DoD, since it involves keeping jets scrambled and use of Civil Air Defense resources. We are suggesting we tell the public that we are hardening the Air Defense Intercept Zone as an exercise, we could also reduce the intercept and escort time to 25 minutes.
President: Fine, fine, now what about this immigration check?
CTC: We want to do some sweeps of the air security system, and that allows us to do personnel checks and interviews without needing warrants.
President: And you are going to target people from Arab countries?
CTC: At first, though it could be expanded. Afterall, we have home grown terrorism problems too.
President: And this will piss off all those liberal groups, won't it?
CTC: Probably Mr. President.
President: I like it already.
Now, about this Grand Jury Investigation...
CTC: It's a work around Mr. President. We really need to get FBI and CIA on Intellnet, but this will allow us to review and disseminate information in the mean time. The long term memo will be drafted later. This was just the immediate plan.
President: And you think this is going to do it? I don't want to hear about this again until I read the headline "Gallup Poll says Americans feel safe from attack". Do you hear me?
CTC: Then we need authorization to require direct reports from FBI to my office.
President: You been having problems? Some one need to be reminded who they work for.
CTC: There is a general feeling that some of the memos are bottled up in red tape.
President: Bureaucracy again. Alright, have that drafted and sent through. About your attack plan, is NSA reviewing that?
NSA: Yes Mr. President. I'm just worried that you are looking for a silver bullet.
President: I'm looking to lay down a few hundred rounds of lead down range. Or haven't you noticed that I'm telling everyone to get on this?
NSA: I will certainly do my part, Mr. President.
President: Good. Glad to hear we are all on the same team here. I see the Principals meeting coming up is on terrorism. I trust you will all be good little boys and girls? This looks like a good plan, really, I'm proud of how much work you have all put in on it. But my belief is that someone has to be responsible, the buck stops here (thumps on his desk). CTC, I want you to make sure this is all coordinated domestically. NSA, it will be your job to coordinate the military options should we need them, and State - I want you to see if we can get those Afghanis to see reason. That's all on this. And DCI? I want to talk with you early tomorrow on something.
Now back to the North Korea situation.