WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) issued the following statement in regard to today’s release of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks report:
“I commend Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice-Chairman Lee Hamilton for their outstanding work in leading this diverse, bipartisan panel. The country owes them, their fellow commissioners and the commission staff a debt of gratitude for their tireless efforts and for their patience and persistence in ensuring that the commission had access to all of the information and witnesses that it needed to produce its report.
“To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this report is not the beginning of the end of our response to the failures that allowed 9/11 to occur, but it marks the end of the beginning. Even as the report revivifies the horror of September 11 and dissects the multitude of failures in the Executive Branch, Congress and most importantly in the CIA and FBI, it is properly focused on a series of strategic recommendations to the nation on how best to fight and win the war on terrorism.
“I am particularly interested in the Commission’s recommendations for reconfiguring the national security agencies of the federal government to better face the ongoing threat of terrorism.
“Earlier this year several proposals were made to broaden the powers of the Director of Central Intelligence to encompass this role, but after reviewing the report and meeting with the commission this morning, I agree with their assessment that the nation needs a separate Intelligence Director. This National Intelligence Director will serve as a focal point for the broader Intelligence Community and will be able to ensure that the President and other senior policymakers have access to as full a range of information and analysis as possible.
“I also agree with the recommendation that we need to build upon the existing Terrorist Threat Integration Center to create a National Counterterrorism Center. As the 9/11 Commission report demonstrates, the failure of communication between and among intelligence services and other agencies involved in counterterrorism was a critical weakness. We need to streamline and broaden information dissemination to take full advantage of our ability to extract raw intelligence data.
“Finally, I agree that we in Congress need to change the way we oversee the intelligence services and that we need to strengthen the intelligence committees in both chambers and make permanent the Select Committee on Homeland Security in the House and create a similar body in the Senate.
“Nearly three years ago, almost three thousand of our fellow citizens lost their lives in a single morning. We cannot bring them back, but we must work together to ensure that 9/11 remains what it is – a unique moment of horror in our nation’s history.”
Established by Congress to “prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks,” the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks today issued its 570-page report with findings and recommendations. The bipartisan panel has been led by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean and former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton.
Congressman Schiff is a co-founder of the Democratic Study Group on National Security and a member of both the House Judiciary and International Relations committees. He represents California’s 29th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, East Pasadena, East San Gabriel, Glendale, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Temple City.