DM B4 Gordon-Ridge Fdr- Draft Questions for Gen John Gordon and Emails Re Questions 316

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QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW OF GEN. JOHN GORDO NWHITE HOU SE SERVICE/HOME LAND SECURITY COUNCIL

1. Based on your experience, what do you think is the appropriate role for the WhiteHouse in coordinating efforts to protect against threats to the homeland? Haveyour views changed since you were at the Department of Energy or the DeputyDirector of Central Intelligence?2. A March 2004 R AN D paper, "Coordinating the War on Terrorism," argues thatthe existence of the NSC, HSC and their supporting interagency committees leadsto "complex interactions and a blurring of lines of responsibility." Do you agree?Does it make sense to have both a Hom eland Security Council and a NationalSecurity Council? What is right and wrong with this two-council structure?3. How do you (and the HSC ) interact with the National Director for CombatingTerrorism (Townsend), the NSC (Rice), the DHS (Ridge) and the rest of thecounterterrorism apparatus? Are you making any recommendations for structuralchanges upon yo ur departure?4. Who has the lead during an alert? Please explain the interagency process leadingup to a decision to elevate the threat level or alert the public to a threat. Who doeswhat? How has the process evolved from 9/11 (or over your tenure)? During theNew Year holiday, the federal government appeared to be on a heightened threatlevel but not the country as a whole. Will this become the norm?5. Where are interagency connections and coordination processes working well?Where do stovepipes and problems persist?6. Do you agree with the recent National Jou rnal article that reported theAdministration sees terrorism as a problem to be fought "over there" and is givinginsufficient attention to readiness and defen se against terrorism at home? Why orwhy not?

7. How do you receive, consume, analyze and use intelligence? Who is yourprimary intelligence advisor? What are the best sources of intelligence youreceive each day? Spec ifically, how do you grade intelligence you receive fromthe FBI, the CIA, and the various elements of the Department of HomelandSecurity?

DEPARTMENT OF HOM ELAND SECURITY/OTHER CT ENTITIES1. The Bureau of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Analysis was consideredby many in the Congress to be the most innovative and important entity

authorized within the newdepartment - yet it is widely regarded to have been oneof the weakest aspects of DHS so far: short-staffed; high turnover of leadership;unable to make a comprehensive assessment of infrastructure vulnerabilities; itsfunction usurped in part by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. What is yourassessment of the IA/IP today? What do you see it realistically achieving in fiveyears?


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2. DH S has its own intelligence centers (e.g., IA/IP, Coast Guard, and SecretService) and participates in TTIC and the Terrorist Screening Center. FBI has aCounterterrorism Division. NO RTH CO M has a fusion center in Colorado. W hosees to it that all these centers work together? Is this the right amount of centersor do we need to consolidate intelligence functions and centers to avoidduplication and stove-piping?3. Are the roles andmissions of these entities - the DCI's CTC, TTIC, IA/IP,NORTHCOM, FBI's CTD -- sufficiently well defined and rationalized? Whatmo re should be done? Are there enough analysts to go around?4. Is the FBI on the right path with its transform ation? If not, why not?5. What is your view of FBI's efforts in going after terrorist financing?6. W ill the DHS succeed as it is presently structured, resourced and equipped? Whatchanges are necessary? W hat is not getting done?7. How is the DHS integrating outside of Washington? W hat advantages have com eabout through the merger (establishment of DHS) that would not have otherwiseoccurred?8. Do you think the Department is too big to succeed? Do you believe a case can bemade fo r spinning of f some of the entities that are part of this unprecedentedmerger? W hat would be gained or lost?9. In May 6 testimony before the Select Com mittee on Hom eland Security, D eputySecretary Loy mentioned his concern whether "high-consequence areas likenuclear, biological and cy ber are properly organized and recognized in thedepartment." Do you agree with Admiral Loy? Who in DHS is worrying aboutcatastrophic and "high consequence" attacks? What are they doing about them?10. Are the most urgent problems in homeland security and homeland defense beingsolved? **11. Given that man y of the security m easures of the future, including a new C APPS IIprogram, depend on proper identification, what is your view on whether we aredoing enough to tighten the process for acquiring government-issued ID's,including breeder docu men ts such as birth certificates, social security cards,driver's licenses?12. A psychological study of the aftermath of September 11 performed by researchersat Carnegie Mellon University found that Americans vastly overestimated the riskof terrorism during that period. Profes sor Jennife r Lerner said that, "There was anoverwhelm ing overestimation of risk." She went on to indicate that thegovernment and m edia can unw ittingly alter risk perception by making peopleeither fearful or angry, and that, if used responsibly, information could be used tobetter communicate the actual degree of risk.

Given that the primary goal of terrorists is to create terror, could thegovernm ent have done a better job in communicating w ith the publicabout terrorist threats before, during and after September 11, 2001?

How should the federal government try to balance the need to promotecontinued vigilance, with the need to combat the "terror" of terrorism? W hat more could or should be done in this respect?


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13. What are your views on the Congressional oversight? Where is oversight beingconducted constructively? Do you have specific views on the oversight of theDepartment of Homeland Security or the intelligence community?14. There are many issues related to homeland security that involve borders andimmigration. [Placeholder for Team 5]

OTHER TOPICS

1. What are the problems in homeland security that no one is thinking about ortalking about right now?2. Are there any other issues we should discuss?3. What recommendations should the 9-11 Commission make to have the greatestimpact on homeland security?


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Mike HurleyFrom: Warren BassSent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 5:30PMTo: Christine HealeyCc: Team 4; Mike HurleySubject: RE: Topics for John Gordon interview

I'd suggest adding terrorist f inancing. I'vegiven Serenaand Doug a document about T /4 issues that mentionsGordon by name; they can clue you if you need morespecifics. For the pre-meeting, we could probablyget awaywith saying something like, "His involvement in TF issues, his view of CIA performance" etc.Beyond that, we're curious aboutmuch the same things as we were with Ridge:How does HSC lash up with NSC, DHS, and the rest of the CT apparatus?Does this work? Is this a smart structure,or just whatwe improvisedand are now stuck with?W ho has the lead on alerts? How do they coordinatewith NSC?What's the intel take?W hy can't they keep anyone in these jobs?OK, the last one you may not want to ask quite that bluntly...

Original MessageFrom: Christine HealeySent: Wednesday, May05, 2004 5:25 PMTo: Kevin Scheid; Mike Hurley; Susan Ginsburg; Emily Walker; Warren BassSubject: Topics for John Gordon interviewDan Marcus is going to do the Gordon interview and he is going to try to do the pre-interview meeting viatelephone tomorrow.I am going to send him this list of topics before I leave for the night (later, much later than now). If youhave any classified additions, please give them to him directly. If you want me to add anything to this list,please let me know.Thanks.

5/6/2004


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Dan MarcusFrom: Janice Kephart-RobertsSent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 3:45 PMTo: Dan MarcusCc: Susan GinsburgSubject: John Gordon

Dan,Please ask Gordon whether he sees border se curity, including immigration services, travel intelligence, anddocument fraud, as integral to national security. Wh at we are seeing is that even at the White House, the re is arelatively limited view of the definition o f border security, and mo stly view ed as a US Visit/border issue, withimmigration enforcement and immigration benefits not being seen as having key roles in border and nationalsecurity.Great job today with the secretary. Thanks for asking so many of our questions!Janice Kephart-RobertsNational Commission on TerroristAttacks Upon the United States301 7th Street, SW, Room 5125Washington, DC 20407Tel.: 202.401.1705Fax: 202.358.3124

5/12/2004


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W I T H D R A W A L N O T I C ERG: 148Box: 00002 Folder: 0001 Document: 9Series: Dan Marcus FilesCopies: 1 Pages: 2

ACCESS RESTRICTEDThe item identified below has been withdrawn from this file:

Folder Title: [John] Gordon/[Tom] RidgeDocument Date: 05-06-2004Document Type: Briefing PaperFrom: Mike HurleyTo: Dan Marcus

Subject: Topics for John Gordon from his time as DDCI

In the review of this file this item was removed because access to it isrestricted. Restrictions on records in the National Archives are stated ingeneral and specific record group restriction statements which are availablefo r examination.

NND: 221Withdrawn: 02-25-2008 by:RETRIEVAL #: 221 00002 0001 9


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TOPICS FOR THE INTERVIEW OF JOHN GORDON

Hom eland Security Council1. The strengths and weaknesses of the current structure within the Executive Officeof the President; should it be m aintained; how does it lash up with NSC , DH S andthe rest of the CT apparatus; why has the turnover been so quick for his position.2. Obstacles to coordination of homeland security strategy among the various thedepartments and intelligence community agencies.3. His relationship with the Secretary of Hom eland Security, the Attorney General,the Director of Central Intelligence and other cabinet secretaries; his visibility intothese programs and agencies.4. The Department of Homeland Security: its strengths and weaknesses.5. The Intelligence Com munity agencies (including FBI): their strengths andweaknesses; the quality and quantity of intelligence they produce.6. The process for issuing alerts; who has the lead; how are they coordinated w iththe NSC .7. The reasons for the failure of the D HS to integrate legacy agencies and functionswithin the Departm ent; wh at is the status of its information sharing and enterprisearchitecture efforts.8. The reasons for the failure of the DHS to issue an assessment of the nation's mostserious vulnerabilities.9. The reasons for various homeland security functions (e.g., terrorist screeningcenter at FBI: threat integration center under DCI) to be established outside ofDHS. " ~10. Terrorist financing: what has been his involvement in these issues; his view ofthe performance of the CIA in this area.11. Where there has been the greatest progress in the development and coordinationof homeland security policy, procedures and programs; where more work needs tobe done.12. Where there is unnecessary redundancy among the various entities involved inhomeland security; where there is confusion about who is in charge; where thereare insufficient resources devoted to the mission.13. Congressional oversight of hom eland security issues in general and the DH S inparticular.14. Whether the budget needed to build full-scale border screening and to deal withunpatrolled borders in really av ailable.15. Whether there is an adequate international and USG structure for conducting

international negotiations on border secu rity issues.

Intelligence Community Issues1. Strengths and w eaknesses of the current structure.2. Strengths and weaknesses in the authorities of the Director of C entral Intelligence.


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3. The appropriate role of the Secretary of Defense in U.S. intelligence activities.4. How intelligence sharing and intelligence operations can be made seamless in theeffort to prevent terrorist attacks.5. What structures are needed so that terrorist intelligence drives the development ofhomeland security systems and operations like border security screening andenforcement?6. His role in the nation's counterterrorism strategy and program while DDCI.7. Congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies and programs.

DM B4 Gordon-Ridge Fdr- Draft Questions for Gen John Gordon and Emails Re Questions 316

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