On January 25, 2001, counterterrorism czar Richard “Clarke sent [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice a memo urgently asking her to convene a meeting of the National Security Council principals–[Vice President Dick] Cheney, [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld, [Secretary of State Colin] Powell, herself and the others–to review policy on Al Qaeda. ‘Al Qida is not some narrow, little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy,’ Clarke wrote… Clarke added that the principals needed to decide whether Al Qaeda was ‘a first order threat’ or a ‘ *chicken little* over-reaching,’ although he made clear his own view that the United States ‘would make a major error if we underestimated the challenges Al Qida poses.’ ”
– Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Pages 141-142