Examples of Bush Administration Actions Matching 9/11 Commission Recommendations

Republican National Committee ^ | July 24, 2004

[RWR8189]

The Bush Administration has taken many significant steps since 9/11 to improve intelligence, law enforcement, and homeland security coordination and information sharing. Examples of significant actions taken by the Bush Administration that match recommendations that now appear in the 9/11 Commission’s report include the following:

Eliminating Sanctuaries

Commission Recommendation: “The U.S. government must identify and prioritize actual or potential terrorist sanctuaries. For each, it should have a realistic strategy to keep possible terrorists insecure and on the run, using all elements of national power. We should reach out, listen to, and work with other countries that can help.” (Ch. 12, p. 367)

Bush Administration Action: The removal of all al Qaeda sanctuaries was part of the Bush Administration’s strategy before 9/11. Since 9/11, the United States has removed the #1 terrorist sanctuary, Afghanistan, and is in fact using all elements of national power to identify other such sanctuaries and make sure they are not available to terrorists, as they did also in Iraq. The administration is defending the peace by taking the fight to the enemy – confronting them overseas so they do not have to confront them here at home. And many nations that understand the importance of winning the war on terror have joined in these efforts.

Terrorist Financing

Commission Recommendation: “Vigorous efforts to track terrorist financing must remain front and center in U.S. counterterrorism efforts.” (Ch. 12, p. 382)

Bush Administration Actions: According to the Commission, “The government has recognized that information about terrorist money helps us to understand their networks, search them out, and disrupt their operations. Intelligence and law enforcement have targeted the relatively small number of financial facilitators – individuals al Qaeda relied on for their ability to raise and deliver money – at the core of al Qaeda’s revenue stream. These efforts have worked. The death or capture of several important facilitators has decreased the amount of money available to al Qaeda and has increased its costs and difficulty in raising and moving that money. Captures have additionally provided a windfall of intelligence that can be used to continue the cycle of disruption.” (Ch. 12, p. 382) (emphasis added).

Weapons Proliferation

Commission Recommendation: “Our report shows that al Qaeda has tried to acquire or make weapons of mass destruction for at least ten years. There is no doubt the United States would be a prime target. Preventing the proliferation of these weapons warrants a maximum effort—by strengthening counterproliferation efforts, expanding the Proliferation Security Initiative, and supporting the Cooperative Threat Reduction program.” (Ch. 12, p. 381)

Bush Administration Actions: Since publishing the National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction in 2002, the Bush Administration has fundamentally changed the way the Nation responds to this preeminent threat. They have: eliminated the WMD programs and longer-range missiles in Libya; closed down the A.Q. Khan nuclear proliferation network; achieved the unanimous passage of UNSCR 1540 that requires states to enact legislation that criminalizes proliferation activities; established “Biodefense for the 21st Century,” a national strategy for meeting the full range of biological threats; provided record-level U.S. and multilateral resources devoted to Nunn-Lugar and other nonproliferation assistance; and established the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as a proactive partnership of countries to coordinate actions to interdict shipments of WMD and related materials to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern, and to shut down proliferation networks.

Border Security

Commission Recommendation: “The U.S. border security system should be integrated into a larger network of screening points that includes our transportation system and access to vital facilities, such as nuclear reactors. The President should direct the Department of Homeland Security to lead the effort to design a comprehensive screening system, addressing common problems and setting common standards with the systemwide goals in mind….” (Ch. 12, p. 387)

Bush Administration Action: Three years ago, there were inspectors from three different Federal agencies at our ports of entry. Today, through DHS, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) consolidates not only all of our border inspectors, but also those who patrol between the ports of entry to create “one face at the border.” In addition, since 9/11, there are more than double the number of personnel on the northern border to 4,400, and there are currently nearly 14,000 on the southern border; there have been also been significant increases at our international airports and seaports. Moreover, with the establishment of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) and the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), all of those with responsibility for securing our borders now have ready access to integrated intelligence information that allows them to act quickly whenever and wherever terrorist suspects are encountered.

Commission Recommendation: “The Department of Homeland Security…should complete, as quickly as possible, a biometric entry-exit screening system, including a single system for speeding qualified travelers… Linking biometric passports to good data systems and decision-making is a fundamental goal….” (Ch. 12, p. 389)

Bush Administration Action: The United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) Program, an automated entry-exit system featuring cutting-edge technology, has been launched at 115 airports and 14 seaports, and is expanding to all land ports of entry. An essential part of a continuum of enhanced security measures that begin overseas when a person applies for a visa to travel to the United States, US-VISIT is designed to: record their arrival and departure; capture their identities; and authenticate their travel documents through comparison of biometric identifiers. Since January 2004, this new program has processed more than six million travelers with only minimal additional delay and yielded 790 matches to persons who were the subject of lookout bulletins.

First Responders

Commission Recommendation: “Homeland security assistance should be based strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities. Now, in 2004, Washington, D.C., and New York City are certainly at the top of any such list. We understand the contention that every state and city needs to have some minimum infrastructure for emergency response. But Federal homeland security assistance should not remain a program for general revenue sharing. It should supplement state and local resources based on the risks or vulnerabilities that merit additional support. Congress should not use this money as a pork barrel.” (Ch. 12, p. 396)

Bush Administration Action: The President’s FY 2005 Budget request includes a doubling of the Urban Area Security Initiative, providing $1.4 billion for terrorism preparedness in “high-threat” urban areas. Presidential homeland security directives require Federal departments and agencies providing preparedness assistance to first responders to base those allocations on terror threat assessments, population concentrations, critical infrastructure, and other risk factors. This includes $280 million allocated for grants for interoperable communications, through the Rapidcom project.

Struggle of Ideas

Commission Recommendation: “The U.S. government must define what the message is, what it stands for. We should offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be generous and caring to our neighbors. America and Muslim friends can agree on respect for human dignity and opportunity… If we heed the views of thoughtful leaders in the Arab and Muslin world, a moderate consensus can be found.” (Ch. 12, p. 376)

Bush Administration Actions: President Bush led the G-8 Leaders last June in launching the “Partnership for Progress and a Common Future” to support political, economic, and social reform in the Broader Middle East and North Africa through new initiative designed to: bring together democracy foundations, civil society groups, and governments from the G-8, the region, and other countries to promote and strengthen democratic institutions, coordinate and share information on democracy programs, initiate new democracy programs, and sponsor exchanges; assist the region’s efforts to halve the illiteracy rate over the next decade; coordinate the work of development institutions and international financial institutions working in the region; and assist the region’s efforts to improve the business climate.

[Dr. Marten]

Bump! Good Post

[Texas Eagle]

Didn't the Commission also recommend a Cabinet level position to serve as a clearing-house for information gathered by FBI, CIA and other intelligence sources? Something along the lines of a Homeland Security Agency?

[FairOpinion]

Teh Comission also recommended having an integrated terror threat information center, which Bush already established in February 2003.


President Speaks at FBI on New Terrorist Threat Integration Center

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030214-5.html

The Terrorist Threat Integration Center marks another crucial advance in meeting the threats of this time. This joint effort across many departments of our government will integrate and analyze all terrorist threat information, collected domestically and abroad in a single location. And that's an important advance.

[Wphile]

Thanks for the post! I just wrote a letter to the editor along these lines. I added that creating a democracy in Iraq will help "prevent the continued growth of Islamist terrorism" which was the second of the 3 overall recommendations.

[Piranha]

Now if we can only get the President to start talking about Islamic or Islamist Terror, the change will be dramatic.

[upchuck]

IMHO, the Bush Administration has done a pretty good job in all these areas except one, Border Security.

Our borders are still like a sieve. Criminal aliens pour through by the hundreds. And now, Middle Eastern, Arabic speaking males are among the criminals. This is obviously a bad situation. And I don't see it getting better.

If there is a terrorist attack this fall before the election and it turns out the terrorists came in through the southern border, President Bush is toast.

[DJ Frisat]

Uh, oh....

The New York Times & Ted Kennedy will probably call for an investigation, claiming that Bush obtained illegal copies of 'classified 9-11 Commission' drafts as early as 2 years ago, and has used the information within as a roadmap for his war on terror, in a blatant display of political opportunism...

Impeach Bush!

</sarcasm>