9/11 commissioners cite failures to act on recommendations

Members of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said Monday the Bush administration and Congress have failed to make enough progress in several critical areas to protect the country from another attack.

In their final appearance together, members of the former 9/11 commission issued a report card on the government's progress in implementing recommendations they made more than a year ago. Commissioners issued more "Fs" than "As" and made emotional pleas for bipartisanship and civic engagement to ensure that needed reforms are enacted.

"Here we are in December of 2005 and our government has still not passed some of the basic reforms to make our citizens a little bit safer," said commissioner Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "We are skating on thin ice; that ice is getting thinner and [is] about to crack."

"When will our government wake up to this challenge?" he asked.

The report card included five failing grades, 12 "Ds" and two incomplete grades. The best grade was an "A-" in the area of tracking and stopping terrorist financing.

The worst grades were in areas such as preventing terrorists from getting weapons of mass destruction, reforming how homeland security funds are allocated, developing international standards for detaining suspected terrorists, setting up a privacy and civil liberties oversight board, improving international collaboration on borders and document security, screening airline passengers and allocating radio spectra for first responders.

"If my children were to receive this report card, they would have to repeat a grade," Roemer said. "We can't afford to repeat the lessons of 9/11 and the losses of 9/11."

The 9/11 commission disbanded after it gave its final report in July 2004. Since then, members have continued pressing for reforms as part of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, a nonprofit funded by private money.

Commission chairman Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, called it "shocking" and "scandalous" that local responders across the country still cannot adequately communicate with each other, airline passengers still are not checked against all names on terrorist watch lists and scarce homeland security funding is not allocated solely based on risks.

"We're frustrated at the lack of urgency in addressing these various problems," Kean said.

"The terrorists don't target Republicans or Democrats; they target Americans," he added. "We will not defeat them as Republicans or as Democrats. We will defeat them only if we all work together."

The reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act presents Congress with a "golden opportunity" to change the formula for allocating homeland security grants, Kean said. The House and Senate are in conference to hammer out a final bill. The House version would distribute grants to states based on risk. Kean said six senators must support the change in order for it to pass; only five are on board so far.

Commission co-chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said efforts to stop terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction "fall far short of what we need to do," adding that there "is simply no higher priority on the national security agenda."

Hamilton also said more reforms are needed within the FBI. The bureau has made some progress but is deficient in its analytical capabilities, information sharing with other agencies and local law enforcement, and recruiting, hiring, training and career development, he said.

"The bureau still struggles to make the intelligence mission the dominate mission of the agency," Hamilton said. "Reforms are at risk from inertia and complacency."

"A strong and effective domestic intelligence function is not an option for the United States; it is an obligation," Hamilton added. "Our nation's security depends on its success."