Book Description

On September 11, 2001, this country suffered the most devastating terrorist attacks ever experienced on our soil. The series of co-ordinated attacks, perpetrated by 19 hijackers affiliated with al Qaida, killed 3,000 people, inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars of economic damage, brought commercial aviation to a standstill, and opened the eyes of the American people to the threat of terrorism as never before. To establish how the perpetrators were able to execute their deadly plot, Congress chartered the independent, bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission). In addition to providing a full account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, Congress directed the 9/11 Commission to develop recommendations for corrective measures that could be taken to prevent future acts of terrorism.1 On July 22, 2004, the 9/11 Commission issued its final report, which included 41 wide-ranging recommendations to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Many of these proposals were put in place in 2004 with the passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act2, which brought about the most significant reorganisation of the intelligence community since 1947. Among the key provisions of that law was the establishment of a Director of National Intelligence to oversee the intelligence community and the creation of a National Counter terrorism Center to analyse domestic and international threats, share that information, and integrate activities to ensure unity of effort against terrorism. Yet, a year after it was issued, the lead authors of the 9/11 Commission Report, Governor Thomas H Kean and Representative Lee H Hamilton, asked as a result of these and other reforms, are we safe? We are safer - no terrorist attacks have occurred inside the United States since 9/11 - but we are not as safe as we need to be. There is so much more to be done, many obvious steps that the American people assume have been completed, have not been some of these failures are shocking. The 9/11 Commission concluded that "the 9/11 attacks revealed four kinds of failures: in imagination, policy, capabilities, and management. Determined to fill the gaps left by the Bush Administration and the Republican controlled Congress, and to provide the American people the security they deserve, the House of Representatives under the new Democratic leadership passed H.R. 1, the "Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007" within the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress. This comprehensive homeland security legislation included provisions to strengthen the nation's security against terrorism by requiring screening of all cargo placed on passenger aircraft; securing mass transit, rail and bus systems; assuring the scanning of all U.S.-bound maritime cargo; distributing homeland security grants based on risk; creating a dedicated grant program to improve interoperable radio communications; creating a co-ordinator for U.S. non-proliferation programs and improving international co-operation for interdiction of weapons of mass destruction; developing better mechanisms for modernising education in Muslim communities and Muslim-majority countries, and creating a new forum for reform-minded members of those countries; formulating coherent strategies for key countries; establishing a common coalition approach on the treatment of detainees; and putting resources into making democratic reform an international effort, rather than a unilaterally U.S. one. When President George W. Bush signed H.R. 1 into law on August 3, 2007 without any limiting statement, it seemed that the unfulfilled security recommendations of the 9/11 Commission would finally be implemented. To ensure that they were, over the past year the Majority staffs of the Committees on Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs have conducted extensive oversight to answer the question, How is the Bush Administration doing on fulfilling the requirements of the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007" (P.L. 110-53)? The Majority staffs of the two Committees prepared this report to summarise their findings. While the Majority staffs of the Committees found that the Bush Administration has taken some steps to carry out the provisions of the Act, this report focuses on the Administration's performance with respect to key statutory requirements in the following areas: (1) aviation security; (2) rail and public transportation security; (3) port security; (4) border security; (5) information sharing; (6) privacy and civil liberties; (7) emergency response; (8) biosurveillance; (9) private sector preparedness; and (10) national security.