The 9/11 Commission Report; Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004. First Edition. Authorized Edition [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. The format is approximately 5.625 inched by 8.25 inches. xviii, [2], 567, [5] pages. Wraps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Authorized Edition [stated]. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States was created to look into the events of September 11, 2001, and to examine this nation's preparedness and response. The report includes narrative accounts of the events on the four airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania, along with background on how the terrorists planned and carried out their attacks. It provides an analysis of Osama bin Laden's appeal to terror and of the growth of al Qaeda. And it recounts a chain of prior acts of terror against the United States abroad as well as the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center in New York. All of these accounts are sobering, terrifying, and in their detail, fascinating. The report recounts the many heroic exploits of first responders and citizens that day, and it assigns both praise and blame to a host of government agencies at all levels, but especially the FBI and the CIA. The conclusions and the recommendations of the panel are presented in two final sections: What to Do, and How to Do It. Their suggestions include specific policy changes on the global scale, including an effort to "engage the struggle of ideas, " a restructuring of systems such as airport screening, and a reorganization within the government that would include newly defined roles for the FBI. Most notably, the report recommends the establishment of a new, cabinet-level post of National Intelligence Director. The 9/11 Commission Report (officially the Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States) is the official report into the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was prepared by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the "9/11 Commission" or the "Ken-Hamilton Commission") at the request of US President George W. Bush and Congress. The commission was established on November 27, 2002 (442 days after the attack) and issued its final report on July 22, 2004. The report was originally scheduled for release on May 27, 2004, however Speaker of the House Dennis Hastiest approved a 60-day extension through July 26. The commission interviewed over 1,200 people in 10 countries and reviewed over two and a half million pages of documents, including some closely guarded classified national security documents. The commission also relied heavily on the FBI's PENTTBOM investigation. Before it was released by the commission, the final public report was screened for any potentially classified information and edited as necessary. After releasing the report, commission chair Thomas Ken declared that both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were "not well served" by the FBI and CIA. The commission's final report also offered new evidence of increased contact between Iran and al-Qaeda. The report contains information about how "at least eight" of the 9/11 hijackers passed through Iran, and indicates that officials in Iran did not place entry stamps in their passports. However, according to the report (Chapter 7), there is no evidence that Iran was aware of the actual 9/11 plot. The commission report chose to place blame for failure to notify the military squarely upon the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Ben Slinky, FAA operations manager at Herndon, Virginia, and Monte Beluga, FAA Acting Deputy Administrator on 9/11, both stated to the commission that military liaisons were present and participating in Herndon's response as the events of 9/11 unfolded. Slinky stated that everyone who needed to be notified, including the military, was. In addition to its findings, the report made extensive recommendations for changes that can be made to help prevent a similar attack. These include the creation of a National Intelligence Director over both the CIA and the FBI, and many changes in border security and immigration policy.