July 22, 2004
The Commish Speaks
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States has released its report on 9/11. This is something all Americans should take notice of, as we attempt to understand where we have been and where we are going. My hope is that this report will help to unite and strengthen our resolve to defeat evil.
9/11 Report: No One Person to Blame
By Liza Porteus
On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 men armed with knives, boxcutters, mace and pepper spray, penetrated the defenses of the most powerful nation of the world. They inflicted unbearable trauma on our people and at the same time, they turned the international order upside down," Thomas Kean, co-chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, said in releasing the report to the public.
"On that September day, we were unprepared. We did not grasp the magnitude of the threat that had been gathering over a considerable amount of time," he added. "This was a failure of policy, management, capability and, above all, a failure of imagination the United States government was simply not active enough in combating the terrorist threat before 9/11."
But not one president George W. Bush or Bill Clinton was blamed for his actions or lack thereof more than another.
Change Is Now Inevitable
The 9/11 Commission report calls for reflection and action
By Christopher Cox
(Republican Congressman, is chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security and chairman of the House Policy Committee)
The Commission report is not a lone voice but only the latest authoritative call for an intelligence overhaul. Several previous commissions and task forces, including the Bremmer, Hart-Rudman, and Gilmore commissions, recommended substantial reforms that went unheeded during the Clinton years. The Joint Inquiry of the House and Senate intelligence committees produced a highly critical report on pre-9/11 intelligence last year that got more, but not enough, attention. Far-sighted recommendations have yet to be implemented--in part because both the Executive and Congress have found them too hard to do.
It is certainly true that President Bush, a bedrock intelligence supporter, responded swiftly to the 9/11 attacks by sharply increasing the community budget and by establishing new units--such as the Terrorist Threat Integration Center and the Terrorist Screening Center--to fuse data, integrate foreign and domestic analysis, and force collaboration across the agencies. Likewise, the Patriot Act removed obstacles for intelligence and law enforcement agencies to pursue terrorists, and added to their authorities to do the job. The Department of Homeland Security offered hope to first responders that they would be trained and equipped to prevent terrorist attacks, protect infrastructure, and respond effectively to an attack should one occur.
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