LEARNING FROM 9-11

While the 9-11 commission, which issued its final report Thursday, pinpointed specific instances of failures that enabled 19 hijackers to carry out their attack on the United States, they also made it clear that no specific person or agency is to blame. The danger in this conclusion is that if everyone – or at least a lot of people – are responsible for the failures that often practically means no one is responsible. To avert this unacceptable outcome, both the president and Congress need to quickly improve the country’s intelligence and security operations.

Many improvements – the creation of a Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Safety Administration, for example – have been made since the terrorist attacks. However, commission members warned Thursday that there would be attempts at other, even bigger, attacks. To avert this, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States recommends numerous changes, both at home and abroad.

The bipartisan commission’s most stinging criticisms are for the country’s intelligence agencies. The panel repeatedly rebukes the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency for not following up on leads and, more importantly, sharing what information they did collect. This situation is made worse by the fact that there is no agency or person in charge of integrating the efforts between the more than a dozen entities that gather intelligence. To remedy this, the commission calls for the creation of a national counterintelligence center and a director of national intelligence.

While many details need to be worked out, this recommendation should quickly be acted upon. Currently, the head of the CIA is also supposed to oversee the other intelligence agencies, but he has no authority over their staffs and budgets, which is particularly troublesome since about 85 percent of intelligence money goes to the Pentagon. Someone needs to be in charge of all intelligence to ensure that information is shared and directed to the appropriate agency to be acted upon. Concerns have been raised that Cabinet-level intelligence director position would be too political. Given the commission’s warnings, it should be possible to overcome politics to improve the gathering and sharing of information.

The commission also faults Congress for not giving adequate oversight to intelligence operations. One reason for this failure is that the intelligence and security agencies report to dozens of congressional committees. The Department of Homeland Security now reports to 90 committees. Instead, there should be two committees in each chamber: one for intelligence and one for security, according to the 567-page commission report.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, summed up what should be the sentiment of her colleagues. “These reports demand change and it is now our job, working with the administration and the intelligence community, to institute real reforms … to ensure that the dedicated professionals of the intelligence community have the structure that will allow them to provide the best possible intelligence.”

Recommendations for changes overseas may be harder to implement because they involve changes in mindset. They are, however, no less necessary. The commission calls for an improved dialogue between Western and Muslim countries to, in the words of the group’s vice chairman, former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton, “promote an agenda of opportunity.” This would be done by improving the economic and education opportunities of citizens in the Middle East, thereby giving the region’s young people an alternative to violence and hatred of America.

The commission’s final report, issued after nearly two years of work, makes it clear that many mistakes were made at many levels over many years. It is now the job of the current administration and Congress to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated.