Based on the information present in the given passage, you need to write a correct answer to the given question. A correct answer is one that correctly and completely answers the question. Do not write answers that address the question partially or incorrectly. The correct answer must be contained in the given paragraph.

Paragraph- Sent 1: The Principals Committee had its first meeting on al Qaeda on September 4.
Sent 2: On the day of the meeting, Clarke sent Rice an impassioned personal note.
Sent 3: He criticized U.S. counterterrorism efforts past and present.
Sent 4: The "real question" before the principals, he wrote, was "are we serious about dealing with the al Qida threat?
Sent 5: Is al Qida a big deal?
Sent 6: Decision makers should imagine themselves on a future day when the CSG has not succeeded in stopping al Qida attacks and hundreds of Americans lay dead in several countries, including the US," Clarke wrote.
Sent 7: "What would those decision makers wish that they had done earlier?
Sent 8: That future day could happen at any time."Sent 9: Clarke then turned to the Cole."Sent 10: The fact that the USS Cole was attacked during the last Administration does not absolve us of responding for the attack," he wrote.
Sent 11: "Many in al Qida and the Taliban may have drawn the wrong lesson from the Cole: that they can kill Americans without there being a US response, without there being a price.". 
Question: The real question' is 'is al Qida a big deal'. Who did Clarke expect to answer this?.
Decision makers.