T1 B27 Jan DOD Request Based On UP Article FDR - Entire Contents - Emails - Doc Request - UP Article - 1st PG For Reference 672

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Yoel Tobin

From: Yoel Tobin


Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 3:13 PM
To: Steve Dunne
Cc: Team 1; Team 3
Subject: DOD Request based on January 2004 WP Article

See attached proposed document request.

1/16/2004
DOD DOCUMENT REQUEST NO.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the
"Commission") requests that the Department of Defense (DOD or "respondent") provide
the Commission with copies of the following documents no later than January , 2004
(the "production date"):

1. To the extent it exists, a report referenced in a Washington Post article dated


January 5, 2004, "Military Split on How to Use Special Forces in Terror War."
According to the Washington Post article, the report is classified, was authored by a
DOD consultant named Richard H. Shultz, Jr., and relates to why U.S. forces were
allegedly not dispatched to kill or capture terrorists responsible for several major
terrorist attacks against the United States.

The Commission requests that the documents requested above be provided as soon as
they are available, even though all requested documents may not be provided at the same
time, through means of a "rolling" production.

If any requested documents are withheld from production, even temporarily, based on an
alleged claim of privilege or for any other reason, the Commission requests that the
respondent, as soon as possible and in no event later than the production date, identify
and describe each such document or class of documents, as well as the alleged basis for
not producing it, with sufficient specificity to allow a meaningful challenge to any such
withholding.

If the respondent does not have possession, custody or control of any requested
documents but has information about where such documents may be located, the
Commission requests that the respondent provide such information as soon as possible
and in no event later than the production date.

If the respondent has any questions or concerns about the interpretation or scope of these
requests, the Commission requests that any such questions or concerns be raised with the
Commission as soon as possible so that any such issues can be addressed and resolved
prior to the production date.

January ,2004
Daniel Marcus

General Counsel
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Tobin

From: Yoel Tobin


Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 1:41 PM
To: Team 3; Team 1
Subject: new doc. request

Today's press clips refer to a 'lop-secret report" by a Pentagon consultant that, "according to four officials that
have seen it," allegedly contends "that despite reliable intelligence on those responsible for the 1993 attack on
the World Trade Center, the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS
Cole in Yemen," our Special Mission Units were never sent to kill or capture the terrorists responsible, apparently
because the Pentagon repeatedly came up with "showstoppers."

I do not know if this article is accurate or not, but it would seem worthwhile to send in a document request for the
alleged report - if Team 3 is already asking for this, or if anyone has more information on this, please let me know
(thru classified or unclassified means, as appropriate).

1/16/2004
12. Military Split On How to Use Special Forces In Terror War

GREGORY VISTICA
Washington Post

With Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld pressuring the Pentagon to take a more aggressive
role in tracking down terrorists, military and intelligence officials are engaged in a fierce debate
over when and how elite military units should be deployed for maximum effectiveness.

Under Rumsfeld's direction, secret commando units known as hunter-killer teams have been
ordered to "kick down the doors," as the generals put it, all over the world in search of al Qaeda
members and their sympathizers.

The approach has succeeded in recent months in Iraq, as Special Operations forces have helped
capture Saddam Hussein and other Baathist loyalists. But in other parts of the world, particularly
Afghanistan, these soldiers and their civilian advocates have complained to superiors that the
Pentagon's counterterrorism policy is too inflexible in the use of Special Forces overall and about
what units are allowed to chase down suspected terrorists, according to former commandos and
a Defense Department official.

In fact, these advocates said the U.S. military may have missed chances to capture two of its
most-wanted fugitives -- Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader, and Ayman Zawahiri, deputy to
Osama bin Laden - during the past two years because of restrictions on Green Berets in favor of
two other components of the Special Operations Command, the Delta Force and SEAL Team Six.

They said several credible sightings by CIA and military informants of Omar entering a mosque
this spring in Kandahar, Afghanistan, were relayed to U.S. forces at nearby Firebase Gecko,
where a Green Beret team was ready to deploy. But rather than send in the Green Berets, who
were just minutes from the mosque, commanders followed strict military doctrine and called on
the Delta Force, the team of commandos whose primary mission is to kill and capture targets
such as Hussein.

In the several hours it took the Delta unit, based hundreds of miles away near Kabul, to review
the information and prepare for the raid, Omar vanished, said the sources, all of whom advise
Rumsfeld's senior aides.

Other informants reported spotting Zawahiri in a medical clinic in Gardez, Afghanistan, in the
spring of 2002. Green Berets five minutes away were ordered to stand down so SEAL Team Six,
another of the hunter-killer teams, could storm the clinic and capture or kill Zawahiri, according to
the sources. But too much time elapsed during preparations, and Zawahiri escaped. The Special
Operations Command declined to comment on the reports.

Separate Missions

Both incidents spotlight the ongoing debate over how best to employ Special Operations forces in
the global war against terrorism. Special Operations forces refer to a range of soldiers from the
Army, Navy and Air Force who are specially trained for sensitive missions, typically secret in
nature and frequently involving rescues or assaults on high-value enemy targets.

The military's policy, in practice, mandates using only "Special Mission Units," such as Delta
Force and SEAL Team Six, to apprehend or assassinate specially targeted individuals. It
precludes other Special Forces such as Green Berets - who are trained primarily to work with
indigenous fighters - from pursuing the most sought-after targets when opportunities arise.

PRESS CLIPS FOR JANUARY 3-5, 2004 16

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