bjbjLULU JEFFREY BROWN: Ten years later, how safe is the U.S. from terror attacks? Members
of one of the key investigating groups weigh in. Three years after the terror attacks on
New York and Washington, the 9/11 Commission issued a report that looked back with a dramatic
recounting of events leading up to that tragic day and projected forward with recommendations
to prevent future attacks. THOMAS KEAN, former co-chairman of 9/11 Commission: Every expert
with whom we spoke told us an attack of even greater magnitude is now possible, and even
probable. We do not have the luxury of time. We must prepare and we must act. JEFFREY BROWN:
The 500-page report instantly became a bestseller. It included 41 recommendations for federal,
state and local governments and agencies, among them: the creation of a director of
national intelligence to coordinate intelligence gathering, as well as foreign and domestic
operations; consolidated congressional oversight of homeland security and intelligence; and
streamlined communication between first-responders in different states and federal agencies.
Today, a group that working under the auspices of the Bipartisan Policy Center, and including
many of the original 9/11 Commission members, presented a report card on national preparedness
10 years after the attacks. Overall, the group found, "Our country is undoubtedly safer and
more secure than it was a decade ago," but, "we fail to achieve the security we could
or should have." In all, the report said that government at all levels failed to meet nine
of the original 9/11 Commission's 41 recommendations. The two chairmen of the 9/11 Commission were
part of the group that presented today's 10th anniversary report card, and they're with
us now, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean and former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton. Welcome
to both of you. First, the good news. You cite many improvements that -- since the commission
report that you say has made the country safer. Governor, what's the most important change
that you have seen that has made us safer, do you think? TOM KEAN: Oh, probably that
the intelligence community is talking to each other more. JEFFREY BROWN: As simple as that?
TOM KEAN: As simple as that. We had a lot of terrorists on 9/11 who might have been
caught very easily, except the FBI didn't share information with the CIA and vice versa.
And we have 17 intelligence agencies. And they were all stovepipes. So they talked to
each other. They didn't talk to -- they didn't talk to each other, rather. They just talked
within the agencies. Now the mechanism is now set up under our legislation that almost
forces them to talk to each other. And that is a great improvement. JEFFREY BROWN: Does
that sound right to you, like, as the key change? Do you see others? LEE HAMILTON, former
co-chairman of 9/11 Commission: No doubt about it. The principle recommendation of the commission
was that we had to do a much better job of sharing information. We have made lot of progress
there. And information today is shared much, much better than it was prior to 9/11, not
yet where it ought to be, not yet seamless, but better. JEFFREY BROWN: Well, let's talk
about that, because this Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created. But
you say in this report today, "It is still not clear that the DNI is the driving force
for intelligence community integration that we had envisioned." You want to start with
that? What problem do you see remaining? LEE HAMILTON: It's the problem of the authority
of the director of national intelligence. He's dealing with a lot of agencies. He's
dealing with some very powerful players, CIA director, secretary of defense and others.
And he needs authority on budget and on personnel and across the intelligence community. Now,
that's very hard to do unless he has statutory authority, which is a little ambiguous today,
and the backing of the president. So, I think it's a question of the DNI's authority. Having
said that, in the end, it comes down to personalities. And the DNI has to be very diplomatic, because
he is dealing with big players, who, if they don't like his decision, will go right to
the president. JEFFREY BROWN: But it's interesting. You're both saying that there is -- they're
talking to each other more... LEE HAMILTON: Yes. JEFFREY BROWN: ... but this new position
isn't quite as coordinated or authoritative as you hoped. TOM KEAN: Well, they weakened
the legislation that we recommended a bit when they passed it in Congress. So it's a
little unclear. And we said at the time -- Lee in particular said, you know, this is all
going to depend on the president, because if the president gives the guy the authority,
then it's going to work. But there have been four DNIs in six years. We hoped that it would
be a long-term person with the faith of the president who would really coordinate the
intelligence operation. And it hasn't quite been that way. JEFFREY BROWN: All right, now,
another area -- and, of course, one of the places where average Americans feel the changes
most is at the airport, right, and with airport security. Today's report, here's another quote.
It says, "The aviation screening system still falls short in critical ways with respect
to detection." What problem do you see there? TOM KEAN: Well, the idea is to detect bombs.
Even with what we all go through, it doesn't detect the latest kind of bombs that terrorists
could build. So the technology of bomb-making has gotten ahead of the technology of detection.
So, what we have really got to do is bring the detection up to date, so that we make
sure that if somebody goes through, we're going to go through all these terrible processes,
that at least they're detecting the bombs that might be there. JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, I
mean, because of course a lot of people feel like there's already enough invasiveness and
possible invasion of privacy with these new machines. But you're suggesting enhanced machine
-- enhanced technology? LEE HAMILTON: Yes, indeed. This is not a new problem. This is
a problem that existed prior to 9/11. We put a lot of money into it. The private sector
has worked hard on it. But we are not yet at the point where you can detect these explosives
that can be hidden on the body or in the body. And we must get to that point. The detection
we have today is good. It detects a lot of things, but it doesn't detect these explosives.
And until we get to that point, there's a risk. And it can be a high risk, because the
terrorists are very good at identifying our vulnerabilities. JEFFREY BROWN: One of the
loudest lines here in today's report that jumped out at me was about emergency response.
It's unity of command. You refer -- and the line is, "A decade after 9/11, the nation
is not yet prepared for a truly catastrophic disaster." This goes to first-responders communicating
with each other. Why hasn't that gotten better? TOM KEAN: This -- I think, if there's something
Lee and I would agree was outrageous, this is it. I mean, we thought this was fairly
easy, the fact that people at the site of a disaster should be able to talk to one another.
We know it cost lives on 9/11. I mean, the policemen couldn't talk to the firemen, and
people died because of that. In Katrina, people in boats weren't able to talk to people in
rescue helicopters, and people died because of it. And now, 10 years later, we still haven't
done it, the so-called D-block, which is what they need, the spectrums, so that first-responders
can talk to each other, not just in terrorist attacks, but in any disaster. JEFFREY BROWN:
Right, because you cite Katrina, you cite the Gulf oil spill. TOM KEAN: Yes. JEFFREY
BROWN: What's your -- do you have an explanation for why that hasn't gotten better? LEE HAMILTON:
Well, the radio spectrum is very valuable property, very valuable property. And so whenever
you're allocating part of that spectrum, you're talking about big dollars. What we're recommending
is a part of that spectrum be given to public officials. And, of course, there are a lot
of people who see that as an intrusion on their property rights or something they should
have rights to. The debate really now is, do you allocate part of this spectrum directly
to the first-responders? That's what we favor. Or do you allocate it to the private sector
and then let them work it out? This is the debate within the Congress now. The important
thing from our standpoint is that the debate be resolved. Let's get a decision here, because
this is an absolute no-brainer that these responders have to be able to talk with one
another. And it is a source, as Tom has suggested, of enormous frustration to us that we have
-- we aren't there yet. JEFFREY BROWN: You know, there's a lot more here that we can
walk through, but when you cite these failures to implement things that to you seem very
obvious -- you both spent a lot of time in politics. Now, when you look at it, is it
a failure of will? Is it a failure of money? Is it a failure of politics, a failure to
understand the gravity of the risk? What do you think? TOM KEAN: Well, depending on the
recommendation, I will give you maybe a different answer. In some cases, it may be money. Other
cases, it's politics. We're calling desperately for congressional reform because they're so
dysfunctional in their oversight of the intelligence operation. JEFFREY BROWN: Dysfunctional is
a word that is being used a lot here in Washington these days. (LAUGHTER) TOM KEAN: Well, dysfunctional
came from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It didn't come from us. And that
can't be, because they're the only people -- intelligence is secret. You can't find
out about it. If they're not doing it, nobody's doing it. So... LEE HAMILTON: Our argument
-- look, our argument is that this is so important to the lives of people if you have a disaster,
that we have a responsibility to get it right now. And there are a lot of other interests
that interfere here that we have referred to. You have to put those aside. People are
going to die unless we get these problems of unity of command and interoperability of
communications worked out. And we are not there yet. JEFFREY BROWN: Are you surprised,
10 years later, that there has not been another major successful attack on the U.S.? LEE HAMILTON:
I think so. I think it's inevitable that they will succeed at some point. The technology
is clearly available to them, no question about their intent. They have made a number
of efforts in the last three or four years. We have had this development of the lone wolf,
the self-radicalization problem in the country. We would be extremely fortunate if we were
able to get by another 10 years without an attack. Everybody I know in the national security
community thinks another attack will eventually succeed. Then the problem becomes our resilience,
our ability to bounce back, and not let us -- let it take over our lives. JEFFREY BROWN:
Governor, do you fear, therefore, that there's been a lack of urgency or it has grown over
the last 10 years? TOM KEAN: I think the further you get from New York City, the less the urgency
is -- that's my experience -- perhaps because they didn't experience it the same way. But
this -- no matter what else we do -- I recognize we're all worried about budgets, health care,
unemployment and we should be. But this is something we can't ignore. The first responsibility
of government is to defend its citizens. If we're not doing that properly, we can't do
anything well. JEFFREY BROWN: So, bottom line here, safer, but still much more to do? TOM
KEAN: That is correct. JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Gov. Tom Kean, Rep. Lee Hamilton, thank
you both very much. TOM KEAN: Thank you. LEE HAMILTON: Thank you. urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
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