String of F's: Bush administration and Congress

Government gets string of F's in 9-11 panel progress report
'We shouldn't need another wake-up call,' commission chief says
07:48 PM CST on Monday, December 5, 2005
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Time, money and ever-present terrorism threats have done little to close gaping holes in the nation's security system, the former Sept. 11 commission said Monday while accusing the government of failing to protect the country against another attack.
The panel cited disjointed airplane passenger screening methods, pork-barrel security funding and other problems in saying the Bush administration and Congress had not moved quickly enough to enact the majority of its recommendations of July 2004.
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Final report on on 9/11 Commission Recommendations
"We're frustrated, all of us – frustrated at the lack of urgency in addressing these various problems," said Tom Kean, a Republican and former New Jersey governor who was chairman of the commission.
"We shouldn't need another wake-up call," Mr. 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?"
Rather than disbanding like most federally appointed commissions when their terms expire, Mr. Kean and the other nine commissioners continued their work as a private entity called the 9/11 Public Discourse Project.
Wrapping up more than three years of investigations and hearings, the former commission issued what members said was its final assessment of the government's counterterrorism performance as a report card. It gave failing grades in five areas, and issued only one "A" – actually an A-minus – for the Bush administration's efforts to curb terrorist financing.
The five F's were for:
•Failing to provide a radio system to allow first responders from different agencies to communicate with one another during emergencies.
•Distributing federal homeland security funding to states on a "pork-barrel" basis instead of risk.
•Failing to consolidate names of suspicious airline travelers on a terrorism watch screening list.
•Hindering congressional oversight by retaining intelligence budget information as classified materials.
•Failing to engage in an alliance to develop international standards for the treatment and prosecution of terrorism suspects.
The panel also gave the government 12 D's and B's, nine C's and two incomplete grades.
The White House released a 17-point fact sheet noting its support for the commission and some of its recommendations that have been enacted so far, including the creation of a national intelligence director and a counterterrorism center to analyze threat information from federal agencies.
GRADING PREPAREDNESS
Some grades that members of the former Sept. 11 commission gave the government Monday for how well it has or hasn't followed the panel's recommendations:
A-minus: Making efforts with other countries to crack down on terrorist financing abroad.
B: Finding a balance at home between security and civil liberties.
C: Gaining private business preparedness in case of an emergency.
D: Improving screening of checked bags and cargo on airline flights.
F: Helping emergency agencies acquire radios and other equipment that would let them communicate with each other during a disaster.
Incomplete: Revamping the CIA, including improvements in its use of human intelligence operations.
SOURCE: Associated Press
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/120605dnnatterror.3e2c3c56.html
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Dallas Morning News Editorial
Weak on Security: Washington must do more to protect America

04:41 AM CST on Tuesday, December 6, 2005
They went out with a bang, that's for sure. The members of the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks issued their final report card yesterday, and everyone in Washington headed for cover. And with good reason. The commission handed out poor security grades on everything from insufficient cargo screening to nukes on the loose.
Three items particularly stood out:
•First, the bureaucracy is still eating us alive. Congress recently created an intelligence czar to ensure that everyone charged with fighting terrorism talks to each other. Unfortunately, the panel warned, there are few incentives to share information.
Intelligence czar John Negroponte could help matters by rewarding those who do talk across bureaucratic lines. So should President Bush. Their attention could fire up the bureaucracy, which needs to remember that no one cares who oversees a piece of turf, as long as we're all safe.
•Second, fire and police departments still can't talk to each other via the radio. The first responders battling the 9-11 attacks, as well as Katrina, couldn't communicate on the same frequency.
Fortunately, this problem can be fixed easily. Congress could pass legislation that would allow first responders to use the same part of the radio spectrum. A bill to that effect sits in Congress, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist should see that Congress passes it by year's end.
•Third, states unlikely to weather the next terrorist attack (see Wyoming) are sucking anti-terror money away from those that are likely to get hit (see New York). States also are wasting federal homeland security funds on unrelated causes, like body armor for fire department dogs in Ohio.
The House has an answer. Representatives want states to apply for federal homeland security money on the basis of risk and vulnerability. The Senate could do all of America a favor by adopting the same formula.
There's no way to fully protect a country as broad and diverse as the United States. But the commission is right: We don't need a bull's-eye on our back.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-security_06edi.ART.State.Edition1.e2ad8a5.html