Michael Hurley holds up a copy of the 9/11 National Commission report during a talk this week at Los Alamos. Hurley said the report is recommended reading for keeping the country safe, is factual, non-judgmental, readable, engrossing and written strictly from the documents. "Good history should be good literature," said Hurley, senior counsel and director of the Counterterrorism Policy Review of the National Commission on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Photo by LeRoy N. Sanchez, Public Affairs
The aim of the 9/11 National Commission report is not to assign specific blame. Previous administrations thought the threat was mostly overseas, said Michael Hurley, senior counsel and director of the Counterterrorism Policy Review of the National Commission on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Hurley spoke at the Laboratory on Tuesday about the National Commission's key report findings. Hurley's talk, "Every American needs to understand what our federal government is doing and is not doing in combating terrorism."
The talk was sponsored by the Lab's Internal Security (ISEC) Office.
After the Cold War ended the country was adjusting to new lethal adversaries, and Americans that were killed were military personnel or diplomats, Hurley said. He referenced the alleged terrorist attacks on the USS Cole where 17 died while docked in the port of Yemen in 2000, and the 1983 Marine barracks attack in Beirut where 241 were killed. "Initial terrorist attacks persisted because administrations didn't respond [to the incidents]," Hurley said.
According to Hurley, the government missed some specific opportunities to detain individuals who were involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks because
- of the failure to link the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, currently being held by the federal government and alleged to have been involved in the 9/11 attacks, and his interest in flight training for the purpose of using an airplane in a terrorist act;
- lack of communication between federal intelligence and national security agencies;
- agencies' lack of response to the no fly list;
- failure to investigate false statements on Visa applications; and
- not hardening aircraft cockpit doors or taking other measures to prepare for the possibility of suicide hijackings.
- unifying strategic intelligence and operational planning against Islamist terrorists across the foreign-domestic divide with a National Counterterrorism Center;
- creating the position of National Intelligence Director;
- unifying the many participants in the counterterrorism effort and their knowledge in a network-based information-sharing system that transcends traditional governmental boundaries;
- strengthening congressional oversight to improve quality and accountability; and
- strengthening the FBI and homeland defenders.
"Put effort into getting behind the headlines; do not just take what's served up to us [referring to societies' sound byte news culture]," said Hurley. More people watched the O.J. Simpson trial than the World Trade Center attacks of 1993, he said.
The 9/11 recommendations won't be enacted into law unless citizens act as watchdogs and advocacy groups request change. Hurley said he had a sense he was looking through a keyhole of history because the report allows facts to tell a story, he said.
"Read the report; the country is doing much better, but there is so much more to do," Hurley continued. "Good people and strong leadership will best serve the country. Let us go forward together."
Hurley also urged people to read these books: "Ghost Wars," by Steve Coll; "Nuclear Terrorism," by Graham Allison; "America the Vulnerable," by Stephen Flynn; and "Pinning the Blame," by Elizabeth Drew.
The 9/11 National Commission report is available at bookstores, public libraries and electronically at http://www.911commission.gov/report/index.htm online.
--Kathryn Ostic