9/11 commissioners worry federal reforms might not stick

The chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 commission said Wednesday they worry that federal agencies might not follow through with reforms unless Congress forces them.

Many changes made inside federal agencies since the attacks have been top-heavy, raising questions about whether reforms are really taking hold in lower management, Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey, told a House Intelligence Committee hearing.

"I think there's a lot [of] good going on, but a lot of it's top-down at the moment, and it's really got to get into the bowels of these organizations to change the culture if it's going to be effective," Kean said.

He said the FBI is a "perfect example" of his concern. According to him, FBI Director Robert Mueller is taking the bureau in the right direction, but reforms might not stick after Mueller leaves. Kean urged lawmakers to exercise oversight and make reforms permanent.

Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton, former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said he did not doubt that progress has been made within federal agencies since the attacks, but institutional structures remain intact.

"We think that progress has been made but the structures today still remain, making it more difficult to achieve it, and the structures ought not to get in the way of good people trying to do the job correctly," Hamilton said.

The CIA, in particular, "jacks you around," said Hamilton, who agreed with lawmakers who said recently that the CIA knows how to oppose reform by playing congressional appropriations committees against congressional authorizing committees.

Hamilton pointed to a classified report that cited continued failures of airport screening operations. "It shakes you up, anybody who flies regularly," he said.

"These bureaucrats, they're very good people, they're very patriotic people, and they're very able people. But they understand power, and power flows from money," Hamilton said.

Kean told reporters after the hearing that he thinks changing the culture of mid-level management and employees will take time.

"This is a long process because people have been trained in different ways, and they've acquired their culture over a number of years," Kean said. "It's bringing in new people and trying to change the people who are there now. But it's going to take a while. It's got to be a consistent effort, because there are a lot of people there who would love to go back to the way it was, and we've got to make sure that doesn't happen."