Joe Pitts, July 23, 2004

This week, the 9/11 Commission released its final report on the terrorist attacks and what we need to do in order to change our nation’s defenses. The 567-page report outlines what our nation needs to do in order to prevent more terrorist attacks.

The Commission confirms that the blame for the 9/11 attacks lies squarely, and exclusively, with the al Qaeda network. The report does not mince words --

"Bin Ladin and Islamist terrorists mean exactly what they say: to them America is the font of all evil, the "head of the snake," and it must be converted or destroyed. It is not a position with which Americans can bargain or negotiate. With it there is no common ground -- not even respect for life -- on which to begin a dialogue. It can only be destroyed or utterly isolated." (Page 362)

The enemy, according to the Commission, is not just "terrorism," but the threat posed specifically by Islamist terrorism. In other words, the abuse and perversion of Islam by Bin Laden and others who "draw from a long tradition of extreme intolerance within a minority strain of Islam that does not distinguish politics from religion, and distorts both."

The report goes on to paint the picture of this breed of terrorism -- decentralized, adaptable, resilient, and capable of anything. But while the threat seems invincible, the Commission clearly states that al Qaeda made mistakes over the last decade, but we were simply unable to capitalize on them.

It is clear that, as the threat of international terrorism evolved over more than a decade after the end of the Cold War, our national security and counterterrorism institutions did not evolve to best protect against the new emerging threats.

Under Republican and Democratic leadership, the White House and Congress did not make the kinds of reforms we needed to make it more difficult for terrorists to strike us on 9/11. These "deep institutional failings" prevented our intelligence community from responding adequately to the growing threat. These failings touched every sector of our government.

The attacks of 9/11 brought into focus the reality of this threat. Many of the actions taken by the Bush Administration and Congress in the wake of the attacks are included in the Commission’s recommendations. These actions include the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, transformation of the FBI, strengthening of relationships with allies in the Middle East, improving security on airplanes and other modes of transportation, and instituting procedural reforms in the PATRIOT Act, and deploying the military, sometimes preemptively, when necessary to hunt down terrorists.

The strategy proposed by the Commission reads much like a comprehensive Cold War policy to roll back the Soviet threat. However, unlike the Cold War, the threat is not merely the expansion of one nation’s power. It’s a war for hearts and minds in regions where Islamist extremism seeks to gain influence. We fight that war on the streets of foreign nations so we do not have fight it here at home.

It involves confronting terrorism and its causes on every front, including the development of country and regional strategies based on the needs in those areas. It also involves the use of "every element of national power." Where appropriate, diplomacy and public outreach must be used. Where necessary, military force must be considered.

The most radical proposition -- and, in my mind, the most necessary -- involves reform of our intelligence agencies.

While the nuts and bolts can be read in the Report itself, the Commission calls for the establishing of a National Intelligence Director to oversee national intelligence activities complete with cabinet rank and budgetary authority. The Director would report directly to the President and would have three deputies: for foreign intelligence (also serves as head of the CIA), for defense intelligence (the under secretary of defense for intelligence), and for homeland intelligence (an official either at the FBI or Department of Homeland Security).

In this model, one person is responsible for the information our nation needs to respond to threats to our homeland. This position coupled with severe reform of how information is shared and how Congress exercises its oversight on intelligence matters make the Report a serious policy proposal that will not take days to consider and implement.

As Congress digests this report, I will work closely with my colleagues and with the Administration to monitor its progress.

Congressman Joe Pitts, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, which includes Lancaster County and parts of Chester County and Berks County.