9/11 panel: ‘More F’s than A’s’ on U.S. security

updated 8:14 p.m. ET Dec. 5, 2005

WASHINGTON - The former Sept. 11 commission gave dismal grades Monday to the federal government's efforts to shore up national security and prevent another terror attack on the United States.

Meeting for the last time since being appointed by Congress in 2002, commission members gave the government "more F's than A's" among the 41 grades measuring progress on security recommendations they issued last year.

"We're frustrated, all of us — frustrated at the lack of urgency in addressing these various problems," said former commission chairman Thomas Kean, a Republican and former New Jersey governor.

Specifically, the panel gave the government an “F” on homeland security spending for cities most at risk, on improving radio communication for emergency agencies and on airline passenger prescreening. They awarded only one A — actually an A-minus — for the administration’s efforts to curb terrorist financing.

"We shouldn't need another wake-up call," Kean said. "We believe that the terrorists will strike again, so does every responsible expert that we have talked to. And if they do, and these reforms that might have prevented such an attack have not been implemented, what will our excuse be?"

The official commission, tasked with investigating government missteps that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, disbanded after issuing its recommendations in July 2004.

It has since been operating with private funds as the 9-11 Public Discourse Project to monitor government progress.

‘Competing priorities’
Since the commission's final report in July 2004, the government has enacted the centerpiece proposal to create a national intelligence director. But it has stalled on other ideas, including improving communication among emergency responders and shifting federal terrorism-fighting money so it goes to states based on risk level.

"There are so many competing priorities," said vice chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "We've got three wars going on: one in Afghanistan, one in Iraq and the war against terror. And it's awfully hard to keep people focused on something like this."

White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the Bush administration wants to base funding on threat but is frustrated by the way Congress spends homeland security funding.

"They are funding things based on old models, pre-9/11 models. We think it's important that homeland security dollars go to where the threats are," Bartlett said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

He said the Bush administration had acted on some 70 of the commission's recommendations and that others were awaiting congressional action.

"It's important that Congress act on those recommendations," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."

NBC VIDEO Top challenges Dec. 5: White House adviser Dan Bartlett discusses homeland security and other issues with "Today" host Matt Lauer. Today show

Bartlett told NBC's "Today" show that while the United States has not been attacked since Sept. 11, "we're not resting on our laurels" and will "continue to press to make the type of changes to make the country safer."

Hamilton, in a joint appearance with Kean on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, said, "We believe that another attack will occur. It's not a question of if. We are not as well-prepared as we should be."

‘Safer but not yet safe’
National security adviser Stephen Hadley said President Bush is committed to putting in place most of the recommendations.

"We are safer, but not yet safe. There is more to do," Hadley said on "Fox News Sunday."

Some members of the commission, whose recommendations now are promoted through a privately funded group known as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, contended the government has been remiss by failing to act more quickly.

Kean and Hamilton urged Congress to pass spending bills that would allow police and fire to communicate across radio spectrums and to reallocate money so that Washington and New York, which have more people and symbolic landmarks, could receive more for terrorism defense.

Both bills have stalled in Congress, in part over the level of spending and turf fights over which states should get the most dollars.

Congress established the commission in 2002 to investigate government missteps that led to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed when 19 Arab hijackers organized by al-Qaida flew airliners into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon and caused a crash in the Pennsylvania countryside.

The panel's 567-page final report, which became a national best seller, did not blame Bush or former President Clinton for missteps contributing to the attacks but did say they failed to make anti-terrorism a higher priority.

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