Regarding the 9/11 Commission’s final report on July 22, 2004, Commission co-chairs Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton wrote: “We discovered real defects within the United States government. Our recommendations arose out of serious concern. We found national security institutions built to fight and win the cold war, yet poorly designed to combat the stateless and shadowy enemy of al Qaeda and Islamist terrorism. We found a lack of counterterrorism capabilities across the government–from our border protection, to our military and covert action capacity, to the communications capabilities of our emergency responders. We found a disturbing lack of unity of effort in the way government shares, analyzes, and acts on information. Our recommendations were designed to address these defects. With the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, some of those defects were addressed–notably, the structure of our national security agencies. We learned that the United States Congress needs help. Too often, Congress cannot deal with the toughest issues facing the nation. Because of the divisiveness in the country, the dizzying twenty-four-hour news cycle, the constant need to raise funds and travel back and forth to a home district, the complexity of some bills, and the pressure on members to be partisan team players, it is harder for Congress to take the time to work through issues and build consensus.”
– Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, Without Precedent, Page 318