National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice pointed out in her April 8, 2004, testimony before the 9/11 Commission that the nation was not prepared to take action against al Qaeda before 9/11: ” ‘Until there is a catastrophic event that forces people to think differently, that forces people to overcome all customs and old culture and old fears about domestic intelligence and the relationship [between foreign and domestic intelligence]…you don’t get that kind of change.’ ”
– Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, Without Precedent, Page 180