On July 22, 2004, “The 9/11 Commission let loose with a…sweeping indictment of a breakdown in the federal government–the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, the National Security Council, the Federal Aviation Administration, Congress–that left the nation vulnerable to attacks that were a shock but ‘should not have come as a surprise.’ The executive summary of the report said that senior officials were repeatedly warned about Osama bin Laden but did not respond aggressively, and that across the government there were ‘failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management.’ The commission called for a massive overhaul of the nation’s intelligence-gathering system, specifically a cabinet-level national intelligence director who could oversee all fifteen federal spy agencies. The report held the Clinton administration responsible for the lapses as well as the Bush administration. It did not say if one deserved more blame than the other, or it the attacks themselves could have been prevented.”
– Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Page 242