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6.4 CHANGE AND CONTINUITY
On November 7, 2000,American voters went to the polls in what turned out
to be one of the closest presidential contests in U.S. history--an election cam-
paign during which there was a notable absence of serious discussion of the
al Qaeda threat or terrorism. Election night became a 36-day legal fight. Until
the Supreme Court's 5­4 ruling on December 12 and Vice President Al Gore's
concession, no one knew whether Gore or his Republican opponent, Texas
Governor George W. Bush, would become president in 2001.
The dispute over the election and the 36-day delay cut in half the normal
transition period. Given that a presidential election in the United States brings
wholesale change in personnel, this loss of time hampered the new adminis-
tration in identifying, recruiting, clearing, and obtaining Senate confirmation
of key appointees.
From the Old to the New
The principal figures on Bush's White House staff would be National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who had been a member of the NSC staff in the
administration of George H.W. Bush; Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, who had
been an assistant secretary of defense under the first Bush; and Chief of Staff
Andrew Card, who had served that same administration as deputy chief of staff,
then secretary of transportation. For secretary of state, Bush chose General
Colin Powell, who had been national security advisor for President Ronald
Reagan and then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For secretary of defense
he selected Donald Rumsfeld, a former member of Congress, White House
chief of staff, and, under President Gerald Ford, already once secretary of
defense. Bush decided fairly soon to keep Tenet as Director of Central Intelli-
gence. Louis Freeh, who had statutory ten-year tenure, would remain director
of the FBI until his voluntary retirement in the summer of 2001.
Bush and his principal advisers had all received briefings on terrorism,
including Bin Ladin. In early September 2000, Acting Deputy Director of Cen-
tral Intelligence John McLaughlin led a team to Bush's ranch in Crawford,
Texas, and gave him a wide-ranging, four-hour review of sensitive informa-
tion. Ben Bonk, deputy chief of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center, used one
of the four hours to deal with terrorism.To highlight the danger of terrorists
obtaining chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons, Bonk brought
along a mock-up suitcase to evoke the way the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday
cult had spread deadly sarin nerve agent on the Tokyo subway in 1995. Bonk
told Bush that Americans would die from terrorism during the next four
years.
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During the long contest after election day, the CIA set up an office in
Crawford to pass intelligence to Bush and some of his key advisers.
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Tenet,
accompanied by his deputy director for operations, James Pavitt, briefed
President-elect Bush at Blair House during the transition. President Bush told
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THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
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