Ten Years After 9-11: Not Safe, Less Free

Let's take a break from talking about the dire financial condition of the our government and talk about our national security or lack thereof. Most of today's post is based on an Associated Press article that appeared on September 3, 2011 which was entitled: "Promises, Promises: U.S. Safer, But Not Safe."

The article reviewed the failure of the Federal government to make the nation safe ten years after the 9-11 attacks but its success in severely restricting the freedom of individual Americans. When reviewing the information, keep in mind that the U.S. has been attacked three times since the 9-11 attacks, two of the terrorist attacks were not successful and one was successful:

• The successful terrorist attack occurred at Fort Hood in Texas in   2009. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was an U.S. Army major at the time, went on a shooting rampage and is the only suspect in that shooting spree that killed 13 Americans and wounded 29.
• The first unsuccessful terrorist attack was called the Underwear Bomber who attempted and failed to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on a plane coming into the Detroit Metro Airport.
• The second unsuccessful attack was called the Times Square bomber who failed to detonate a bomb laden car in Times Square New York.

Highlights, or lowlights, of the article include the following:

- The bipartisan September 11 Commission laid out a detailed, 585 page road map to create an America that is "safer, stronger, wiser" way back in 2004. Unfortunately, only some of their recommendations were ever implemented, ten years after the attacks and seven years after the commission's report was issued.

- When police and fire personnel went into the burning towers, they immediately found out that they could not communicate easily with others because their radios were not compatible. Ten years after, only minimal progress has been made fixing this communication problem.

- As a result of the attacks, the political class passed the lamely named Patriot Act that gave the Federal government unheard of powers to investigate suspicious activities, regardless of how it negatively impacted freedom. At the time of passage, the political class also established the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to protect against liberty infringement as a result of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, ten years after the attacks, the Board has no members, no staff, no offices and consequently, no power to protect our freedom.

- When the Commission issued its report, there were 88 Congressional committees, subcommittees, and caucuses that claimed they had some jurisdiction over national security. The Commission recommended that the political class create "a single, principle point of oversight and review for homeland security."

Ten years after the attacks, the number of Congressional entities that believe they have homeland security jurisdiction has risen from 88 to 108. The Homeland Security Department has estimated that it has spent a collective 66 work years responding to questions from Congress, time that has taken resources away from preventing the types of terror attacks described above.

- Not only is the chain of command and organization a mess at the Congressional oversight level, the article reports that putting together disparate pieces of intelligence information to develop an ability to detect a pending attack, at the analyst level, is still severely lacking. This is especially clear relative to the Christmas day bomber. Many parts of the U.S. intelligence apparatus had different pieces of information about the would-be bomber but no processes are yet in place to put all of the information together, ten years after the attacks.

- The Commission recommended "the establishment of a National Counterterrorism Center." The Commission hoped to create a strong oversight director of anti-terrorism activities that would rule over all of the government's intelligence agencies. Ten years after the attacks, the position has been created but has been stuck with all of the responsibility but none of the authority.

Thus, turf wars  have been the steady state of business with the director of the National Counterterroism Center being dubbed the "convener-in-chief." The reason for the nickname is the perception  his only job is to get different government agencies together and try and cajole them to do something. Since the Center was formed in 2005, it has already had three directors. You cannot run an effective and efficient organization if the leadership team constantly changes.

- The Commission recommended that military action be taken so that Afghanistan "must not again become a sanctuary for international crime and terrorism." Ten years after the attacks, the article correctly points out that the central Afghanistan government has little power and authority outside of the capital city of Kabul, the Afghan government is still riddled with corruption, and the cost in U.S. lives and money for an inconclusive outcome has been very high. A satisfactory outcome in this terror attack area relative national security is still very much open to debate.

The article does point out how some progress has been made in executing the recommendations of the Commission but they seem small relative to the failures listed above. An additional concern, not discussed in the article , is the capability of those in charge of the anti-terror fight:

- When the Christmas Day Underwear bomber's plan went astray, solely because of a faulty detonator and not the nation's intelligence community's efforts, Janet Napolitano, the head of the Homeland Security Department, issued a really strange statement: "The system worked."

The system she is referring to is the government's anti-terrorism systems and processes. This odd statement raises the question: if the system worked, how did a known potential terrorist get over U.S. soil in a loaded jetliner with explosives in his underwear, and through sheer luck was not able to detonate those explosives? I would hate to see what would have happened and how many Americans would have died if the system did not work.

- Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper suffered through a very embarrassing situation earlier this year. Mr.Clapper and other anti-terror leaders were interviewed by Diane Sawyer relative to national security. Prior to the interview, British anti-terror resources busted a major terrorism cell and arrested twelve people and charged them with conspiring to conduct terror attacks in Britain.

One would have thought that the person in charge of overseeing much of our country's anti-terror functions would have been well briefed when a strong ally like Britain busts open a major terrorism cell. When Diane Sawyer brought up the arrests during the interview and asked Mr. Clapper's opinion, he sat stunned like a deer in the headlights. He obviously had no idea what she was talking about even though he was a major figure that was supposed to execute those types of operations.

Here is a lead anti-terrorism figure going on national network news to discuss antiterrorism efforts and he is not briefed or even made aware of this major terrorism bust. Makes you wonder what other major terrorism activities he is not up to date on.

Anti-terrorism recommendations not implemented ten years after the fact. Anit-terrorism leaders who seem out of touch with the reality of our dangerous world today, not aware of what is going on around the world and who think everything worked fine even though we were one spark away from death and destruction in a bombed out plane over Detroit. Ten years after 9-11, less safe and less free.

But this should not surprise you:

1. Almost forty years after this country declared war on drugs, the political class has continued to waste money and lose the war on drugs, creating a dangerous drug cartel-infested nation just below our southern border.
2. Almost forty years after the oil shocks of the mid-1970s, we are no closer to having an effective and national energy policy and strategy.
3. Almost thirty years after President Reagan's educational commission told us that our schools were under educating our kids, our public schools in this country, for the most part do a subpar job preparing our kids and the nation for the world.
4. Almost twenty years after the first World Trade Center terrorist bombing, we have not sealed our selves off from terrorist activities, resulting in deaths and wounded at Fort Hood and narrowly avoiding massive deaths over Detroit and in Times Square.

Step 39 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" has never been so needed. Step 39 would impose term limits on all Federal politicians since our current politicians have been in office for so many decades that the old saying, "if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem," is so appropriate.

Many of our current, sitting politicians in Washington have been in office during our failed war on drugs, the inactivity in the energy field after the oil shocks of the 1970s, have allowed our educational effectiveness to continue its decline, and have done very little to secure the country. We are certainly less safe, less free, and less likely to solve all of our problems besides our security with those that sit in Washington today.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/