The 9/11 Commission Report Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

By Ben-Veniste, Richard

Book Id: WPLBN0000043001
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 2.4 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	The 9/11 Commission Report Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
Author:	Ben-Veniste, Richard
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Legislation., Economic & political studies
Collections:	Government Library Collection, Government Printing Office
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Government Printing Office


Citation APA MLA Chicago Veniste, R. B. (n.d.). The 9/11 Commission Report Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Government Reference Publication

Excerpt
Excerpt: We present the narrative of this report and the recommendations that flow from it to the President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the American people for their consideration. Ten Commissioners-five Republicans and five Democrats chosen by elected leaders from our nation’s capital at a time of great partisan division-have come together to present this report without dissent. We have come together with a unity of purpose because our nation demands it. September 11, 2001, was a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States.The nation was unprepared. How did this happen, and how can we avoid such tragedy again? To answer these questions, the Congress and the President created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Public Law 107-306, November 27, 2002). Our mandate was sweeping.The law directed us to investigate “facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” including those relating to intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, diplomacy, immigration issues and border control, the flow of assets to terrorist organizations, commercial aviation, the role of congressional oversight and resource allocation, and other areas determined relevant by the Commission. In pursuing our mandate, we have reviewed more than 2.5 million pages of documents and interviewed more than 1, 200 individuals in ten countries. This included nearly every senior official from the current and previous administrations who had responsibility for topics covered in our mandate. We have sought to be independent, impartial, thorough, and nonpartisan. From the outset, we have been committed to share as much of our investigation as we can with the American people.To that end, we held 19 days of hearings and took public testimony from 160 witnesses.

Table of Contents
CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Tables ix Member List xi Staff List xiii–xiv Preface xv 1. “WE HAVE SOME PLANES” 1 1.1 Inside the Four Flights 1 1.2 Improvising a Homeland Defense 14 1.3 National Crisis Management 35 2. THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TERRORISM 47 2.1 A Declaration of War 47 2.2 Bin Ladin’s Appeal in the Islamic World 48 2.3 The Rise of Bin Ladin and al Qaeda (1988–1992) 55 2.4 Building an Organization, Declaring War on the United States (1992–1996) 59 2.5 Al Qaeda’s Renewal in Afghanistan (1996–1998) 63 3. COUNTERTERRORISM EVOLVES 71 3.1 From the Old Terrorism to the New: The First World Trade Center Bombing 71 3.2 Adaptation—and Nonadaptation— in the Law Enforcement Community 73 3.3 . . . and in the Federal Aviation Administration 82 3.4 . . . and in the Intelligence Community 86 v 3.5 . . . and in the State Department and the Defense Department 93 3.6 . . . and in the White House 98 3.7 . . . and in the Congress 102 4. RESPONSES TO AL QAEDA’S INITIAL ASSAULTS 108 4.1 Before the Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania 108 4.2 Crisis:August 1998 115 4.3 Diplomacy 121 4.4 Covert Action 126 4.5 Searching for Fresh Options 134 5. AL QAEDA AIMS AT THE AMERICAN HOMELAND 145 5.1 Terrorist Entrepreneurs 145 5.2 The “Planes Operation” 153 5.3 The Hamburg Contingent 160 5.4 A Money Trail? 169 6. FROM THREAT TO THREAT 174 6.1 The Millennium Crisis 174 6.2 Post-Crisis Reflection: Agenda for 2000 182 6.3 The Attack on the USS Cole 190 6.4 Change and Continuity 198 6.5 The New Administration’s Approach 203 7. THE ATTACK LOOMS 215 7.1 First Arrivals in California 215 7.2 The 9/11 Pilots in the United States 223 7.3 Assembling the Teams 231 7.4 Final Strategies and Tactics 241 8. “THE SYSTEM WAS BLINKING RED” 254 8.1 The Summer of Threat 254 8.2 Late Leads—Mihdhar, Moussaoui, and KSM 266 9. HEROISM AND HORROR 278 9.1 Preparedness as of September 11 278 9.2 September 11, 2001 285 9.3 Emergency Response at the Pentagon 311 9.4 Analysis 315 vi 10. WARTIME 325 10.1 Immediate Responses at Home 326 10.2 Planning for War 330 10.3 “Phase Two” and the Question of Iraq 11. FORESIGHT—AND HINDSIGHT 11.1 Imagination 339 11.2 Policy 348 11.3 Capabilities 350 11.4 Management 353 334 339 12. WHAT TO DO? A GLOBAL STRATEGY 361 12.1 Reflecting on a Generational Challenge 361 12.2 Attack Terrorists and Their Organizations 365 12.3 Prevent the Continued Growth of Islamist Terrorism 374 12.4 Protect against and Prepare for Terrorist Attacks 383 13. HOW TO DO IT? A DIFFERENT WAY OF ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT 399 13.1 Unity of Effort across the Foreign-Domestic Divide 400 13.2 Unity of Effort in the Intelligence Community 407 13.3 Unity of Effort in Sharing Information 416 13.4 Unity of Effort in the Congress 419 13.5 Organizing America’s Defenses in the United States 423 Appendix A: Common Abbreviations 429 Appendix B:Table of Names 431 Appendix C: Commission Hearings 439 Notes 449 vii