1

FACSIMILE FOR:NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION

US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS)

CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION

TIME SENSITIVE: This is the one non-partisan recommendation of the 9-11 Commission that can a) be acted upon by Congress before the elections and b) provide a public intelligence capability that will keep secret intelligence honest in the future while also helping businesses and universities follow reality.

Dear Colleagues,

The 9-11 Commission has recommended that an Open Source Agency be created as a new element of the Federal government. Although they have not recommended a budget, and they included it on page 413 under the U.S. Intelligence, I and many others who have been working toward this end believe that you need to alert all of your Members, and urge Congress to keep this Open Source Agency independent of either intelligence or defense control. It can support them, but the better model to meet your needs is that of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

The attached press release was issued yesterday in its public form, and faxed as amended to every Member of Congress today. Tomorrow hearings will begin at the Senator Committee on Government Operations, where Senator McCain is sensitive to the value of open sources of information in support of business intelligence and business risk reduction. Senator Warner on the Senate Armed Services is similarly interested in why we have failed to properly exploit, all that can be known through legal overt access to sources in 33+ languages, 24/7.

We’re talking about no less than $125M for IOC, as much as $3B for FOC, half of that amount to be spent within the states, under the sovereignty of the Governor of each state. The ugly first draft of legislation is at the web site shown in the press release.

I welcome any opportunity to brief gatherings of interested officials via telephone conference call or in person locally. Over 20,000 pages of substance back up this new planned program, please let me know if I can help communicate its importance to your membership.

Sincerely yours,

/s/

Robert David STEELE Vivas

Chief Executive Officer