Today, members of the 9/11 Commission will issue a final report on the status of the recommendations it issued in July 2004. The report will say that "unsatisfactory," "insufficient" or "minimal" progress has been made by Congress and the executive branch on a majority of the commission's recommendations.
"The 9/11 Commission is right on the mark in concluding that our country has lost its sense of urgency in defending against acts of terrorism and taking the steps necessary to reduce the national security threats posed by radical Islamic fundamentalism," said David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"Attacks abroad have demonstrated that al-Qaeda and its affiliated organizations remain a potent threat, and Hurricane Katrina revealed how unprepared the nation is to deal with a catastrophic disaster -- whether caused by nature or terrorism," he said.
While noting that the commission has served a great public service by identifying reforms that must take place, Schanzer, the former Democratic staff director of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, said its recommendations do not go far enough.
"They did not cover the full landscape of terrorist threat against the United States and in many respects were incomplete. For example, the commission did not discuss the threat of bioterrorism and the great many reforms and initiatives that must be undertaken to prepare for the intentional (or natural occurring) introduction of infectious disease.
"The commission also placed to great an emphasis on defending against a 9/11-style attack instead of looking at the threat more generally. We currently spend $72 on aviation security for every $1 spent on mass transportation, despite the fact that there have been far more terrorist incidents on railroads and buses in prior years and a 9/11-style attack is far less likely because cockpit doors have been hardened, federal air marshals are on far more flights and passengers will not allow a plane to be used as a weapon.
"The commission's description of our state of preparedness, as dire as it may sound, may actually understate the problem," Schanzer said.