The 9/11 Commission Report. The USG knew Hijackers

The much-anticipated The 9/11 Commission Report established that the United States government knew the September 11th hijackers, but failed to ‘connect the dots’ due to bureaucracy. This finding is infuriating, leaving one to think, what might have been? When one considers the immense effect the September 11th attacks had on American foreign policy, the mistakes that were made were jaw-dropping.

The thorough report was the result of a commission chaired by former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean, and was requested by U.S. President George W. Bush and Congress. The commission was established on November 27, 2002, 442 days after the September 11 attacks. The report, which is 585 pages in length, was released on July 22, 2004, to both the public and Congress. Was there ever a more anticipated commission report?

The 9/11 Commission Report Summary

“The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States” was probably the most anticipated commission report ever released. The report was requested by President George W. Bush, and he appointed the bipartisan panel. The commission was convened on November 27, 2002, and the final report was released on July 22, 2004. The commission was convened 442 days after the attacks of September 11th.

The commission interviewed more than 1,200 people in ten countries. It is easy to think about the commission as just the eleven members of the committee. However, the commission was also comprised of hundreds of staff members. The 9/11 Commission report is 585 pages long.

The primary finding of the 9/11 report was that an intelligence failure led to the attacks of September 111th. It turns out that both the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency had surveillance on a hijacker, but did not share that information. These two agencies had considerable historical animosity, which is detailed.

This intelligence failure led to the creation of the Director of National Intelligence. This office was tasked with integrating the untelligence community. To do so, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had to overcome significant historical organizational animosity.

This was the headline finding and result. However, there were some more findings of the 9/11 commission report. There were also some first-ever things released. These all included: airport security footage of the hijackers as they passed through airport security. There were significant changes to airport security as a result of the hijackers getting on airplanes. We have all experienced this increased security.

Excerpts from the United Airlines Flight 93 cockpit voice recording were also released by the 9/11 commission. That recorded the sounds of the hijackers in the cockpit and the passengers’ attempts to regain control, which would later become a hit song by Neil Young. Finally, eyewitness testimony of passengers as they described their own final moments to family members and authorities on airphones and cellphones from the cabins of doomed airliners. That was heart-wrenching.

The Global War on Terrorism

The 9/11 commission also concluded 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but the commission “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization” to conspire in the attacks, or that it funded the attackers, even though the report identifies that “Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al-Qaeda funding.”

Nevertheless, this finding kicked off an era of expansive American foreign policy known as the Global War on Terror. A lot has been written about that, so we will not rehash it here. Suffice it to say that the 9/11 commission findings led to this American foreign policy.

Why You Should Read This Book

Those seeking to understand the most heinous terrorist attacks on the United States should read this book. These attacks led directly to two wars, those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the global pursuit of Al-Qaeda and terrorist leadership by the United States. The attacks detailed in this report also led to massive security changes at airports that have affected everyone.

Parting Shots

Readers rarely get a look into the highly classified world of the United States Government investigations and spying, but they do in this report. The great detail that is presented in this report is both refreshing and eye-opening. The work of this commission was also refreshingly non-partisan for Washington DC. Though these results quickly became politicized.