Tenth Anniversary Report Card: the Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations 1
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National Security Preparedness Group Founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a non-profit organization that drives principled solutions through rigorous Tenth Anniversary Report Card: analysis, reasoned negotiation and respectful dialogue. With projects in The Status of the 9/11 multiple issue areas, BPC combines politically balanced policymaking with Commission Recommendations strong, proactive advocacy and outreach. September 2011 1225 Eye Street NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 204-2400 WWW.BIPARTISANPOLICY.ORG Tenth Anniversary Report Card: The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations 1 National Security Preparedness Group CO-CHAIRS The Honorable Lee Hamilton The Honorable Thomas Kean Former Representative from Indiana and Former Governor of New Jersey and Vice Chairman of the 9/11 Commission Chairman of the 9/11 Commission MEMBERS The Honorable Frances Townsend The Honorable Dave McCurdy Dr. Stephen Flynn Former Homeland Security Advisor Former Representative from Oklahoma President, Center for National Policy and Deputy National Security Advisor and Chair of the House Intelligence The Honorable Tom Ridge for Combating Terrorism Committee Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland The Honorable Edwin Meese III Dr. John Gannon Security and Governor of Pennsylvania Former Attorney General Former Deputy Director of the CIA for The Honorable Dan Glickman Intelligence The Honorable Dick Thornburgh BPC Senior Fellow and Former Former Attorney General and Governor Peter Bergen Secretary of Agriculture of Pennsylvania Director, National Security Studies Professor Bruce Hoffman Program at the New America The Honorable Jim Turner Director, Center for Peace and Security Foundation Former Representative from Texas Studies, Georgetown University and Ranking Member of the House The Honorable Spencer Abraham Homeland Security Committee Former Secretary of Energy and U.S. Senator from Michigan PROJECT DIRECTOR Rob Strayer Former Deputy Staff Director, Senate Homeland Security Committee DISCLAIMER This report is the product of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group. The findings and recommendations expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Bipartisan Policy Center, its founders, or its board of directors. Tenth Anniversary Report Card: The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations 3 National Security Preparedness Group Foreword We serve as co-chairs of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National recommendations to keep the country safe; the Commission Security Preparedness Group (NSPG), which is a follow-on to the had an extraordinary non-partisan staff, the members of which 9/11 Commission. NSPG monitors the implementation of the 9/11 possessed deep expertise and conducted their work with Commission’s recommendations and focuses on emerging security thoroughness and professionalism; the Commissioners had deep threats to our nation. experience in government and political credibility with different constituencies; the final report was unanimous and bipartisan; Ten eventful years have now passed since violent Islamist families of the victims of 9/11 provided solid and sophisticated extremists, members of the terrorist organization al Qaeda, support throughout the life of the Commission and in the years hijacked four commercial airplanes and flew them into the twin since; and following the Commission, the Commissioners and staff towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon continue to work closely with Congress and the executive branch in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania. These horrific to implement and monitor reform. attacks killed nearly 3,000 of our fellow Americans and citizens of foreign countries, altering our society forever. The success of the Commission’s work was due to political leadership embracing its findings and recommendations, pushing Over the course of nearly 20 months, the 9/11 Commission hard to enact them, and continuing to drive reform. That support investigated the facts and circumstances surrounding the and leadership have been critical in improving the nation’s attacks. The 9/11 Commission Report, issued in July 2004, security. made 41 recommendations for keeping our country safe. These recommendations were endorsed by both presidential candidates Now, on the solemn occasion of the 10th anniversary of the at the time and almost every member of Congress. attacks, is an appropriate time to reflect and evaluate where we are in national security reform – and what we have yet to achieve. We have reflected often on why the 9/11 Commission was Sincerely, successful. First, because of the great damage and trauma the 9/11 attacks produced, the American public demanded action and had high expectations for measures and reforms that would improve the nation’s security. Importantly, the statutory mandate for the Commission was limited, precise, Tom Kean Lee Hamilton and clear – the Commission was authorized to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the attacks and to make Tenth Anniversary Report Card: The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations 5 National Security Preparedness Group Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................6 Effect of the 9/11 Attacks ..........................................6 The Government’s Response .......................................6 Evolving Terrorist Threat to the United States ...........................7 Chapter 2: Nine Major Unfinished 9/11 Commission Recommendations ............................. 10 Unity of Command and Effort ................................... 12 Radio Spectrum and Interoperability .............................. 14 Civil Liberties and Executive Power ............................... 15 Congressional Reform ........................................ 16 Director of National Intelligence ................................. 17 Transportation Security ....................................... 17 Biometric Entry-Exit Screening System ............................. 18 Standardize Secure Identifications ............................... 18 Develop Coalition Standards for Terrorist Detention .................... 19 Chapter 3: Conclusion ..................................... 20 6 Chapter 1: Introduction Tenth Anniversary Report Card: The Status of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations 7 Chapter 1: Introduction Effect of the 9/11 Attacks The Government’s Response persists. In late July, a U.S. soldier was arrested on rise in South Asia and continues to extend into failing or suspicion of plotting to murder U.S. soldiers at Fort Hood, failed states such as Yemen and Somalia. Over the past 10 years, our government’s response to the The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 exacted a Texas. Other brands of extremism are also highly lethal challenge of transnational terrorism has been dramatic. At devastating toll on so many of our families, profoundly and threaten all of us, as the recent events in Norway so In assessing terrorist threats to the American homeland, the federal level, we have created major new institutions. and dramatically transforming government, the private painfully remind us. senior U.S. counterterrorism officials now call attention to al The Department of Homeland Security itself was a massive sector, and our daily lives. The suddenness of the attacks Qaeda’s strategy of “diversification” – attacks mounted by a reconfiguration of government, combining 22 agencies into on American soil and the loss of so many lives made us wide variety of perpetrators of different national and ethnic a new department, with a workforce of 230,000 people and Evolving Terrorist Threat to the U.S. feel vulnerable in our homes, and caused us to question backgrounds that cannot easily be “profiled” as threats. an annual budget of more than $50 billion. In total, some whether our government was properly organized to protect 263 organizations have been established or redesigned. Former CIA Director and current Secretary of Defense, Leon Most troubling, we have seen a pattern of increasing us from this lethal threat. The economic damage resulting Panetta, declared that we are “within reach of strategically terrorist recruitment of American citizens and residents to from the attacks was severe. In short order, we shifted from The intelligence community has also adapted. In response defeating al Qaeda.” Only the future will tell whether that is act as “lone wolves.” In 2009, there were two actual terrorist a “peace dividend” at the end of the Cold War to massive to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Congress accurate, but certainly the death of Osama bin Laden is our attacks on our soil. The Fort Hood shooting claimed the lives expenditures of taxpayer dollars on new security measures. created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence most significant advancement to date in our efforts to defeat of 13 people, and a U.S. military recruiter was killed in Little (DNI) and the National Counterterrorism Center in 2004 to al Qaeda. Rock, Arkansas. Today, we know that Americans are playing The human tragedy was, of course, the greatest loss. advance a unified effort across the intelligence community. increasingly prominent roles in al Qaeda’s movement. Nothing can replace the loved ones lost to that act of Four DNIs in six years have worked with the Intelligence The bin Laden raid resulted from years of hard work, Muslim-American