SUGGESTED QUESTIONS ON

WARNING OF TRANSNATIONAL THREATS

Designated Commissioners: Thompson, Cleland

What is Warning?

(1) What are the essential principles and methods that the U.S. developed during the
Cold War for analyzing and preparing warnings of a surprise attack?

- Did the U.S. use these principles and methods before 9/11 concerning
terrorism?

(2) What does "warning" mean concerning counter-terrorism?

- Is "warning" limited to instances in which the Intelligence Community knows a

terrorist attack's time and place?

Doesn't "warning" also encompass when the Intelligence Community has

credible information concerning a threat, even in the absence of information on
time and place?

Is warning possible when the information is vague, fragmentary and general in

nature?

(3) Has the threshold for warning of terrorist attacks been too low?

- Did recipients of warning ever experience "warning fatigue" prior to or after

9/11?

(4) Ms. McCarthy wrote in 1998 that "the likelihood of a cataclysmic warning failure
is growing." Do you believe that the attacks of 9/11 were "a cataclysmic warning
failure?"

Who is in Charge?

(5) Who was is in charge of warning of terrorist attacks against the U.S. prior to 9/11?

Who is in charge today?

- Who should be in charge in the future?

(6) What entities within the Intelligence Community should have some responsibility
for warning of terrorist attacks?

- What is the division of labor among the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, the
CIA's Counterterrorist Center, the National Intelligence Center, and other
agencies?
(7) What is the role of vulnerability assessments in warning?

- What is the Department of Homeland Security's role in warning as the

department identifies vulnerabilities in the U.S. homeland?

Role of the Policymaker

(8) What is policymakers' role in the warning process, and what should their role be?

- When the system is working properly, how should policymakers respond to

warning information?

- Can policymakers take meaningful action on warning information in the

absence of specificity on time, place, or method of attack?

(9) What entities and mechanisms currently exist within the government to ensure that
warning is connecting to timely and effective responses?

How can these entities and mechanisms be strengthened?

(10) Are there other ways we can improve our government's ability to provide warning?

Congress

(11) Has Congress met its responsibility in establishing priorities, providing resources,
and conducting oversight of the Intelligence Community?

Do you recommend any changes to Congressional oversight?