It need hardly be observed that the demands of justice and national security, and the rights of the victims and their survivors, require that our first imperative, as a nation, be to find and bring to justice Osama bin Laden and his coadjutors, as well as other members of al Qaeda, and all others who bear responsibility for the horrendous loss of life on that terrible September day. That work is of course the charge of our political, intelligence, defense, military and defense establishments and our judiciary.

The Commission's task is a collateral and subordinate one — to investigate the circumstances surrounding and our preparedness for the September 11 attacks, in the hope that we can prevent one from ever happening again. This is the charge of the Committees as well. This memorandum, therefore, while it naturally stresses, for the benefit of the Commission and the Committees, the present issues relating to surveillance and disclosure, before and at about the time of the attacks, should not be mistaken as any effort to place the blame for the cause of our suffering on anyone but al Qaeda and its members, or to weaken the resolve of our country in finding, capturing and punishing those who have brought so much misery to so many of us.