Truth to Power

Failing on security

The 9-11 Commission has released a report assessing the United States work on security since 9-11. Looks as if there is some room for improvement:

The former commission issued what members said was their final assessment of the government’s counterterror performance. It gave failing grades in five areas and issued only one “A” –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 each other during emergencies.

*Distributing homeland security funds to states on a “pork-barrel” basis instead of risk.

*Failing to consolidate names of suspicious airline travelers on a single terror 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 detained terror suspects. </i>

What the article fails to mention is, this group is no longer federally funded, and had to get its backing from private sources. Wouldn’t you think that the government would be doing all it could to determine how safe we are? Spending whatever it took to find out who is threatening us and how?

Unless, says my inner cynic (who is amazingly accurate), they already know.


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