Michel Chossudovsky
(Cont'd) Lee H. Hamilton Vice Chair
Thu Jul 17 05:13:03 2003
208.152.73.26

Lee H. Hamilton Vice Chair
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO307B.html

"Lee Hamilton, vice chair, is president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Prior to becoming director of the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1999, Hamilton served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's Ninth District. During his tenure, he served as chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations), chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East from the early 1970s until 1993, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran."

Hamilton has been connected to a number of key agencies. "He serves on an advisory board to the Association of the United States Army, the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Secretary of Defense's National Security Study Group and the CIA Economic Intelligence Advisory Panel"

As member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, he was instrumental the indictment of Reagan National Security adviser John Pointdexter as well as Colonel Oliver North and Richard Secord.

On the other hand, his committee failed to investigate the roles of other Reagan officials. Pointdexter and North were the fall guys. Neither President Reagan nor Vice President Bush were investigated, nor Colin Powell and Richard Armitage, who are now part of the current Bush Junior Administration.

In other words, Lee H. Hamilton brings to the Commission the "damage control" procedures followed during the Iran Contra investigation, which broadly served to uphold the practices of US foreign policy.
2. Senior Commission Staff (Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director and Legal Counsel)

Philip D. Zelikow
Executive Director

"Philip Zelikow is the executive director of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, better known as the "9/11 Commission." He is also the director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs and White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia. After serving in government with the Navy, the State Department, and the National Security Council, he taught at Harvard before assuming his present post in Virginia to direct the nation's largest research center on the American presidency. He was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and served as executive director of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former Presidents Carter and Ford, as well as the executive director of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. Zelikow's books include The Kennedy Tapes (with Ernest May), Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (with Condoleeza Rice) ... Zelikow has also been the director of the Aspen Strategy Group, a policy program of the Aspen Institute."

Philipp D. Zelikow, who holds the key executive position, responsible for the day to day activities of the 9/11 Commission, is a former member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, chaired by General (ret) Brent Scowcroft.

Zelikow was appointed to the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board on October 5th, 2001, one day before the beginning of the bombing of Afghanistan.

The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) has the mandate to "provide advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities".

Zelikow also has a close personal relationship with National Security adviser Condoleeza Rice. He is co-author of a book written with Condoleezza Rice.

There are indications that Condoleeza Rice has withheld crucial information linking senior Bush Administration officials to the former head of Pakistan's military intelligence, General Mahmoud Ahmad. According to the FBI, in a September 2001 report, ISI Chief General Mahmoud allegedly played a role in transferring money to the 9/11 terrorists. On the withholding of information by Condoleeza Rice regarding the ISI Chief, see the transcripts of her May 16, 2002 press conference.

Conflict of Interest: The Executive director of the Commission who overseas a staff of some forty people is a de facto White House appointee. He calls the shots on the direction of investigative research. He has close ties to the Presidency and close personal ties to National Security adviser Condoleeza Rice.
Christopher Kojm
Deputy Executive Director
Christopher Kojm served from 1998 until February, 2003 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence Policy and Coordination in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He served previously in the Congress on the staff of the House International Relations Committee, under Ranking Member Lee Hamilton as Deputy Director of the Democratic staff (1997-98), as Coordinator for Regional Issues (1993-1997) and under Chairman Hamilton on the Europe and Middle East subcommittee staff (1984-92).

Christopher Kojm worked closely with Hamilton.
Daniel Marcus
General Counsel
Daniel Marcus, General Counsel of the Commission, was for many years a partner in the Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, serving on the firm's Management Committee from 1995 to 1998. During the Carter Administration Mr. Marcus was Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture. He returned to Government service in 1998 as Senior Counsel in the White House Counsel's office. From 1999 to 2001 he held several senior positions at the Department of Justice, including Associate Attorney General. Last year he was a Visiting Professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Marcus is a graduate of Brandeis University and Yale Law School, and was a law clerk for Judge Harold Leventhal of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Daniel Marcus belonged to a law firm which counts among its clients Prince Mohammed al Faisal, identified as one of the top three alleged "financiers" of the 9/11 attacks listed in the 1 trillion dollar lawsuit. Confirmed by CBS "Those listed include Prince Mohammed al-Faisal, former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan, Khalid bin Salim bin Mahfouz of the National Commercial Bank and the Faisal Islamic Bank. " Bear in mind that at the time Daniel Marcus belonged to the firm, Prince Prince Mohammed al-Faisal was among its most wealthiest clients.

Conflict of Interest: Marcus' law firm provided legal counsel to one of the alleged financiers of 9/11: Prince Mohammed al Faisal
3. Commissioners

Richard Ben-Veniste
Commissioner

Richard Ben-Veniste is a partner in the Washington law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. He served as assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District New York, from 1968 to 1973, which included service as chief of the Special Prosecution Section from 1971 to 1973. Mr. Ben-Veniste was chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office from 1973 to 1975 and Special Outside Counsel Senate Committee on Government Operations from 1976 to 1977.

Before joining Mayer, Brown Rowe and Maw, (February 2003), Richard Ben-Veniste was partner in Weil, Gotshal, and Manges, which played a key role in the Enron scandal. .

According to the NY Post:

Weil, Gotshal, and Manges. among the biggest bankruptcy firms in the world - famously received a $3 million retainer from Enron when the energy company filed in 2001. When all is said and done the law firm expects to squeeze more than $200 million out of the bankrupt energy company in fees that are secured by a court ( http://www.nypost.com/wealth/63212.htm  .)

Ben Veniste has other dubious links. He was Democratic counsel of the Senate Whitewater Committee. (Jim Rarey, 911 Commission - Forgedda Boudit Medium Rare)

Max Cleland
Commissioner

Max Cleland is a distinguished adjunct professor at American University's Washington Semester Program, where he also serves as a fellow in the Center for Congressional & Presidential Studies. A former senator from Georgia, he began his public service as an officer in the U.S. Army, volunteering for duty in Vietnam in 1967, where he served until he was very seriously wounded in April 1968. Cleland was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 where he served as chairman of the Personnel Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee, and was a member of the Senate Veteran's Affairs Committee. While in the Senate, he earned enormous respect for his work in such areas as health care and education reform, bio-terrorism preparedness, homeland security, and fiscal responsibility.

Fred F. Fielding
Commissioner
Fred Fielding is senior partner and head of Wiley, Rein, & Fielding's Government Affairs, Business & Finance, Litigation and Crisis Management/White Collar Crime Practices. From 1981-1986, he served as Counsel to the President of the United States, as deputy counsel from 1972-1974 and as Associate Counsel from 1970-1972. He also served as clearance counsel during the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition.

Conflict of interest: Fielding is a former White House Counsel during the Reagan administration at the time of the Iran Contra scandal, closely connected through personal ties to several members of the current Bush team. He was also counsel during the Bush-Cheney presidential transition.

Jamie S. Gorelick
Commissioner

Jamie Gorelick is vice chair of Fannie Mae. As part of the four-person Office of the Chairman, she shares responsibility for overall management of the company, directs its efforts to reach underserved markets and oversees Fannie Mae's external relationships, legal and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining Fannie Mae in May 1997, Gorelick was deputy attorney general of the United States, a position she assumed in March 1994. From May 1993 until she joined the Justice Department, Gorelick served as general counsel of the Department of Defense. From 1979 to 1980 she was assistant to the secretary and counselor to the deputy secretary of energy. In the private sector, from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1993, Gorelick was a litigator in Washington, D.C., representing major U.S. companies on a broad range of legal and business matters. ... She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute. Gorelick co-chaired, with Senator Sam Nunn, the Advisory Committee of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, and currently serves on the Central Intelligence Agency's National Security Advisory Panel as well as the President's Review of Intelligence.

Jamie S. Gorelick serves on the CIA's National Security Advisory Panel as well as the President's Review of Intelligence. .She is also a Member of the Council of Foreign Relations, which plays a behind the scenes role in the formulation of US foreign policy and intelligence operations:

"In May 1995, the Intelligence Community Law Enforcement Policy Board was established to meet quarterly and discuss mutual concerns of the Attorney General and Director of Central Intelligence. The board was co-chaired by Gorelick and DCI George Tenet. Other members included all of the law enforcement agencies, the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and the Defense Department General Counsel."(911 Commission - Forgedda Boudit Medium Rare By Jim Rarey)

Conflict of interest: Visibly this is a CIA appointment to the Commission. Gorelick has a close personal relationship to CIA Director George Tenet.

Slade Gorton
Commissioner

Slade Gorton is of counsel at Preston Gates & Ellis LLP. Prior to joining the firm, he represented Washington State in the United States Senate for 18 years, from 1982-2000. While in the Senate, Gorton served on the Appropriations, Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Energy and Natural Resources Committees. He served as chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee (1995-2001), the Commerce Subcommittees on Consumer Affairs (1995-99), and Aviation (1999-2000). He was also a member of the Republican leadership as counsel to the Majority Leader (1996-2000)...

This is typically an appointment of the Republican party and the Republican caucus in the Senate. "Gorton served two years on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He says that experience and his personal friendship with Trent Lott were responsible for his appointment by Lott." (Ibid)

John F. Lehman
Commissioner

John Lehman is chairman of J.F. Lehman & Company, a private equity investment firm. ... He served 25 years in the naval reserve. Lehman was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Reagan in 1981 and served until 1987. During his tenure as Secretary of the Navy, Lehman was responsible for building a 600 ship Navy, establishing a strategy of maritime supremacy, and reforming ship and aircraft procurement. He has served as staff member to Henry Kissinger on the National Security Council, as delegate to the Force Reductions Negotiations in Vienna and as deputy director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency....

Lehman is a former Secretary of the Navy under the Reagan administration, with close personal ties to members of the current Bush administration. J.F. Lehman & Company is a firm specialising in leveraged buyouts. Lehman, who is a member of Council on Foreign relations (CFR) has close personal ties to Henry Kissinger, who recruited him during the Nixon administration.

Timothy J. Roemer
Commissioner

Tim Roemer is a partner at Johnston and Associates and a distinguished scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a non-profit research and educational institution dedicated to improving public policy outcomes. From 1991-2003, Roemer represented the Third District of Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Science. He was appointed to the Intelligence Committee's Task Force on Homeland Security and Terrorism and served on the bipartisan Joint Inquiry which issued a report on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the key author of the legislation in the House of Representatives to establish the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States.

As a former member of the Task Force of the Intelligence Committee's Task Force on Homeland Security and Terrorism and the Joint Inquiry of the Senate and House, Roemer is a go-between the Commission, Homeland Security and the members of the intelligence committees of the House and Senate. He has ties to Rep. Porter Goss and Senator Bob Graham, who headed the join inquiry. Graham and Goss have suspicious links to former Pakistani (ISI) Intelligence Chief General Mahmoud Ahmad. Pakistan's ISI is known to support Islamic terrorism in liaison with the CIA.

James R. Thompson
Commissioner

James Thompson, Illinois' longest-serving governor (1977-1991), is chairman of the law firm of Winston & Strawn, headquartered in Chicago. He first joined Winston & Strawn in 1975 and then rejoined the firm as a partner when he left the governor's office in 1991.

James R. Thompson is still part of the Republican Party machine. His law firm Winston & Strawn specializes in "defending corporations and individuals accused of wrongdoing, including some big name corporations, like Philip Morris, McDonald's, Microsoft, and General Electric".

W and S defended tobacco giant Philip Morris against plaintiffs in class action lawsuits as well as Montsanto, and lobbied government on behalf of its clients.

W and S was also involved in 2001 in a high profile conflict of interest case pertaining to a contract with the Energy Department "on license preparations for a nuclear waste repository in Nevada" . for further details see, http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-01-Sat-2001/news/175 

• "Representation" on the Commission: — Michel Chossudovsky, Thu Jul 17 05:17