911Commission scheduled second round in Washington on May 22 and 23

9/11 panel includes historians, terror survivor

The independent commission reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks has assembled a 53-person staff that includes historians, former federal prosecutors, intelligence analysts, government researchers and a Navy lieutenant seriously burned in the strike on the Pentagon...

A career foreign service officer, one-time CIA deputy director for intelligence and former supervisory agent at the FBI are part of the team, as are five people who worked on last year's congressional investigation of intelligence failures that led up to Sept. 11, 2001...

...The commission has divided the staff into nine teams to reflect key topics of inquiry: al-Qaeda and the organization of the Sept. 11 attack, intelligence collection and management, U.S. policy toward states that harbor terrorists, financing of terrorists, border security, law enforcement, aviation security, the response on Sept. 11 in New York and at the Pentagon, and the response by the nation's political leaders. The commission held hearings in New York City last month and has scheduled a second round in Washington on May 22 and 23....

At least one more person will be added to the staff, Felzenberg said. Some staff members are full-time employees, while others are consultants. Some staffers will build on previous work with commission members. Felzenberg was an assistant secretary of state when Kean was governor of New Jersey.

William Johnstone, who is working on aviation issues, was legislative director for former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga. Christopher Kojm, the deputy executive director, handled foreign policy issues as a legislative staffer for former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the commission's vice chairman.

The commission is building off the work of the joint House-Senate intelligence committee that held private and public hearings last year. Toward that end, the commission hired five people who worked on the joint committee's staff.

They include Daniel Byman, who studied CIA issues for the congressional inquiry; Dana Lesemann, who was counsel to the joint inquiry; and Michael Jacobson, who worked on the congressional panel's FBI team. Another staff member, Barbara Grewe, has worked as special investigative counsel for a Justice Department inspector general review of how the government handled the threat of terrorism. One member of the staff has a particularly painful affiliation with the Sept. 11 attacks.

Kevin Shaeffer, a Navy lieutenant, was working in the Pentagon's Navy Command Center when it was struck by one of the four hijacked planes. Shaeffer suffered burns over 42 percent of his body. Twenty-nine co-workers in the command center were killed. Shaeffer is working on the task force studying the emergency response at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Former New Jersey Attorney General John Farmer Jr. is leading that task force..."

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